Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Social policy - Men and women - Equal pay - Persons doing the same work - `Same work' - Meaning - Persons in a comparable situation - Factors to be taken into account - Persons performing seemingly identical tasks but having different professional training and qualifications - Not covered

(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC); Council Directive 75/117)

Summary

In order to determine whether different groups of persons who perform seemingly identical tasks but who do not have the same training or professional qualifications for the practice of their profession do the same work within the meaning of Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC) or Directive 75/117 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women, it is necessary to ascertain whether, taking into account the nature of the tasks that may be assigned to each group respectively, the training requirements for performance of those tasks and the working conditions under which they are performed, the different groups can be considered to be in a comparable situation.

That is not the case for two groups of persons, such as psychologists and doctors employed as psychotherapists, who have received different professional training and who, because of the different scope of the qualifications resulting from that training, on the basis of which they were recruited, are called on to perform different tasks or duties. Thus the term `the same work' does not apply, for the purposes of the aforementioned provisions, where the same activities are performed over a considerable length of time by persons the basis of whose qualification to exercise their profession is different.