Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Social policy - Men and women - Equal pay - Pension funds entrusted with providing benefits under an occupational pension scheme - Obligation to ensure equal treatment between men and women - Scope

(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts 136 EC to 143 EC))

Summary

$$Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC) must be interpreted to the effect that bodies such as German pension funds (Pensionskassen) entrusted with providing benefits under an occupational pension scheme are required to ensure equal treatment between men and women, even if the employees discriminated against on the basis of sex have, as against those directly liable, namely their employers in their capacity as parties to their employment contracts, a protected right in the event of insolvency that excludes all discrimination.

The circumstance that, as an insuring body, a German pension fund is subject to insurance law and therefore to the entirely separate principle of equal treatment applicable under that law and that the increase in the volume of its insurance obligations as a consequence of the application of Article 119 of the Treaty may give rise to measures designed to cover that increase, which might include an increase in contributions for all affiliated employees, is an issue which must be resolved by national law. In any event, the existence of such a problem does not affect the obligation for German pension funds to comply with the principle of equal pay laid down in Article 119 and neither the legal independence that they enjoy nor indeed their status as insuring bodies are of any importance in that r espect.

( see paras 25, 33 and operative part )