Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. State aid ° Concept ° Exclusion of small businesses from a national system of protection of workers against unfair dismissal ° Advantage granted without transferring State resources ° Excluded

(EEC Treaty, Art. 92(1))

2. Social policy ° Men and women ° Access to employment and working conditions ° Equal treatment ° National rules which exclude undertakings with a limited number of staff from the system of protection against unfair dismissal ° Number of staff calculated by excluding certain employees on part-time working hours ° Permissibility in the absence of evidence that women are greatly in the majority in the excluded undertakings and in view of the economic objectives pursued

(Council Directive 76/207, Arts 2(1) and 5(1))

Summary

1. The exclusion of small businesses from a national system of protection of workers against unfair dismissal, with the effect that they are not obliged to pay compensation in the event of socially unjustified dismissals or to bear the legal expenses incurred in proceedings concerning the dismissal of workers, does not constitute aid within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the Treaty.

Such a measure does not entail any direct or indirect transfer of State resources to those businesses but derives solely from the legislature' s intention to provide a specific legislative framework for working relationships between employers and employees in small businesses and to avoid imposing on those businesses financial constraints which might hinder their development.

2. The principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards the conditions of dismissal as it emerges from Articles 2(1) and 5(1) of Directive 76/207 does not preclude the application of a national provision which does not take into account employees whose working hours are not more than 10 hours per week or 45 hours per month when determining whether or not an undertaking must apply the system of protection against unfair dismissal, where it is not established that undertakings which are not subject to that system employ a considerably greater number of women than men. Even if that were the case, such a measure might be justified by objective reasons not related to the sex of the employees in so far as it is intended to alleviate the constraints weighing on small businesses.