12.11.2005   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 281/2

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 8 September 2005

in Case C-191/03 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Labour Court): North Western Health Board v Margaret McKenna (1)

(Equal pay for men and women - Illness arising prior to maternity leave - Pregnancy-related illness - Person subject to the general sick-leave scheme - Effect on pay - Absence offset against the maximum total number of days of paid sick leave over a specified period)

(2005/C 281/05)

Language of the case: English

In Case C-191/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Labour Court (Ireland), made by decision of 14 April 2003, received at the Court on 12 May 2003, in the proceedings pending before that court between North Western Health Board and Margaret McKenna — the Court (Second Chamber) composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann (Rapporteur) and R. Schintgen, Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General, L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 8 September 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:

1.

A sick-leave scheme which treats identically female workers suffering from a pregnancy-related illness and other workers suffering from an illness that is unrelated to pregnancy comes within the scope of Article 141 EC and Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women.

2.

Article 141 EC and Directive 75/117 must be construed as meaning that the following do not constitute discrimination on grounds of sex:

—

a rule of a sick-leave scheme which provides, in regard to female workers absent prior to maternity leave by reason of an illness related to their pregnancy, as also in regard to male workers absent by reason of any other illness, for a reduction in pay in the case where the absence exceeds a certain duration, provided that the female worker is treated in the same way as a male worker who is absent on grounds of illness and provided that the amount of payment made is not so low as to undermine the objective of protecting pregnant workers;

—

a rule of a sick-leave scheme which provides for absences on grounds of illness to be offset against a maximum total number of days of paid sick-leave to which a worker is entitled over a specified period, whether or not the illness is pregnancy-related, provided that the offsetting of the absences on grounds of a pregnancy-related illness does not have the effect that, during the absence affected by that offsetting after the maternity leave, the female worker receives pay that is lower than the minimum amount to which she was entitled during the illness which arose while she was pregnant.

(1)  OJ C 158 of 05. 07. 2003.