23.3.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 86/7

1.

Is Article 15 of Directive 2006/54/EC (1) (return from maternity leave) applicable to attendance of a professional training course in the context of an employment relationship and must it be interpreted as meaning that, at the end of the leave period, the female worker concerned has the right to be re-admitted to the same course still under way, or can it be interpreted as meaning that the female worker concerned may be enrolled on a subsequent course, even though the timing, at least, of that subsequent course is uncertain?

2.

Must Article 2(2)(c) of Directive 2006/54/EC, which provides that any less favourable treatment related to maternity leave constitutes discrimination, be interpreted as affording female workers protection, which is absolute and cannot be affected by divergent interests, against any substantial inequality (Case C-136/95 Thibault [1998] ECR I-2011), so as to preclude national legislation which, by requiring dismissal from a professional training course and at the same time guaranteeing the option of enrolling on the following course, pursues the objective of providing adequate training but deprives the female worker of the opportunity to take up, at an earlier date, a new post together with male colleagues from the competition and course, and thus to receive the corresponding pay?

3.

Must Article 14(2) of Directive 2006/54/EC, under which a difference of treatment based on characteristics constituting a genuine occupational requirement does not amount to discrimination, be interpreted as permitting the Member State to delay access to employment to the detriment of a female worker who has been unable to undergo full professional training as a result of maternity leave?

4.

In the scenario set out in [Question 3], and accepting, in abstract terms, that Article 14(2) is applicable to the case set out therein, must that provision none the less be interpreted, in accordance with the general principle of proportionality, as precluding national legislation which requires that a female worker absent on maternity leave be dismissed from the course rather than ensuring that parallel remedial courses be set up in order to allow the training shortfall to be remedied, thereby combining the rights of the working mother and the public interest, but with the organisational and financial costs attached to that option?

5.

If it is interpreted as precluding the national legislation referred to above, does Directive 2006/54/EC set out, in that regard, self-executing rules which are directly applicable by the national court?