Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 8 May 2019.
RE v Praxair MRC.
Request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation (France).
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Social policy — Directive 96/34/EC — Framework agreement on parental leave — Clause 2.6 — Worker employed full-time and for indefinite duration on part-time parental leave — Dismissal — Compensation payment for dismissal and redeployment leave allowance — Method of calculation — Article 157 TFEU — Equal pay for male and female workers — Part-time parental leave taken primarily by female workers — Indirect discrimination — Objective factors unrelated to any sex discrimination — None.
Case C-486/18. (2019)
Language: English

In those circumstances, the Cour de cassation (Court of Cassation) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
‘(1)
Are clauses 2.4 and 2.6 of the framework agreement on parental leave … to be interpreted as precluding the application to an employee who is on part-time parental leave at the time of his dismissal of a provision of domestic law, such as Article L. 3123-13 of the Labour Code, applicable at the material time, under which “the compensation payment for dismissal and retirement benefit payable to an employee who has worked on both a full-time and part-time basis for the same undertaking shall be calculated in proportion to the periods of each of those types of employment completed since the employee joined the undertaking”?
(2)
Are clauses 2.4 and 2.6 of the framework agreement … to be interpreted as precluding the application to an employee who is on part-time parental leave at the time of his dismissal of a provision of domestic law, such as Article R. 1233-32 of the Labour Code, under which, during a period of redeployment leave which exceeds the notice period, the employee is to receive a monthly payment from the employer of an amount equivalent to at least 65% of the employee’s average gross monthly pay during the 12 months preceding the notice of dismissal, subject to the contributions referred to in Article L. 5422-9 of the Labour Code?
(3)
If the answer to either of the preceding questions is in the affirmative, is Article 157 [TFEU] to be interpreted as precluding provisions of national law, such as Article L. 3123-13 of the Labour Code, applicable at the material time, and Article R. 1233-32 of that Code, in so far as a far greater number of women than men choose to take part-time parental leave and the indirect discrimination which results therefrom as regards the receipt of redundancy pay and redeployment leave allowance, which are less than those received by employees who have not taken part-time parental leave, is not justified by objective factors unrelated to any form of discrimination?’

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