11.9.2004

Official Journal of the European Union

C 228/28

Reference for a preliminary ruling by order of the Juzgado de lo Social No 30 de Madrid of 5 July 2004 in the case between C. Sarkatzis Herrero and Instituto Madrileño de la Salud

(Case C-294/04)

(2004/C 228/57)

A reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Juzgado de lo Social No 30 de Madrid of 5 July 2004 for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings between C. Sarkatzis Herrero and the Instituto Madrileño de la Salud and received at the Court Registry on 12 July 2004.

The Juzgado de lo Social No 30 de Madrid has requested the Court of Justice to rule on the following questions:

Must the Community provisions on maternity leave and equal treatment for men and women in access to work be interpreted as meaning that a woman on maternity leave who while in that situation obtains a post in the public service must enjoy the same rights as the other applicants who have been successful in the competition for access to the public service?

Irrespective of what might have occurred in the case of an employee taking up a post for the first time, if the employment relationship was in force, albeit suspended, while she was on maternity leave, does access to the status of permanent employee constitute one of the rights associated with career advancement whose effectiveness cannot be affected by the fact that the person concerned is on maternity leave?

In application of the abovementioned provisions, and in particular those on equal treatment for men and women in access to employment or when employment has been obtained, is a temporary servant who is on maternity leave when she obtains a permanent post entitled to take up her administrative post and assume the status of official, with the rights inherent in such status, such as the initiation of her professional career and the calculation of her seniority, from that moment, and on the same conditions as all the other applicants who have obtained posts, notwithstanding that, according to the provisions of domestic law applicable in her case, the exercise of the rights associated with the actual performance of work may be suspended until such time as she actually commences work?