Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Article 119 of the Treaty ° Applicability to private occupational pension schemes ° Finding in the judgment of 17 May 1990 in Case C-262/88 Barber ° Raising, for the purpose of bringing about equality, of the retirement age for women to that for men in relation to periods of service between the date of pronouncement of the judgment and the implementation of a uniform retirement age ° Justification based on financial difficulties ° Not permissible ° Application to men, in relation to those periods, of the arrangements applicable to women ° Abolition, in relation to periods of service completed after the date of equalisation of the retirement age, of the advantages previously granted to women ° Permissible ° Adoption of measures, if only transitional, limiting for women the unfavourable consequences of equalization ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119)

Summary

Article 119 of the Treaty precludes an employer or an occupational pension scheme, which takes the necessary measures concerning the setting of a uniform retirement age for men and women in order to comply with the judgment of 17 May 1990 in Case C-262/88 Barber and to bring about equality, from raising the retirement age for women to that for men in relation to periods of service between the date of pronouncement of the judgment and the date of entry into force of those measures, even if it relies on its own financial difficulties or those of the undertaking concerned. In relation to that period, the pension rights of men must be calculated on the basis of the same retirement age as that for women. Once the Court has found that discrimination in relation to pay exists and so long as measures for bringing about equal treatment have not been adopted by the scheme, the only proper way of complying with Article 119 is to grant to the persons in the disadvantaged class the same advantages as those enjoyed by the persons in the favoured class.

However, as regards periods of service after the date of entry into force of equalisation, Article 119, which merely requires that men and women should receive the same pay for the same work, does not preclude measures which achieve equal treatment by reducing the advantages of the persons previously favoured. However, measures, even if only transitional, designed to limit the adverse consequences which raising the retirement age may have for women are excluded.

Finally, as regards periods of service prior to 17 May 1990, the aforesaid judgment excluded application of Article 119 to pension benefits payable in respect of those periods. It follows that Community law imposed no obligation which would justify retroactive reduction of the advantages which women enjoyed.