In a ruling made by the European Court of Justice on ECJ Wednesday 19 July (C-143/16), the latter concluded that a national provision authorising the conclusion of an intermittent employment contract between an employer and a worker under 25 years of age and the termination of employment after that age had been reached, was compatible with European Union law.
An Italian citizen was employed by the Abercrombie company from 2010 to 2012 on the basis of an intermittent non-permanent work contract that was later made permanent. The company ended the working relationship with the employee on the date of his 25th birthday, in compliance with an Italian legislative decree. This effectively means that a company can conclude an intermittent work contract with a person aged under 25. The company considered that the condition was therefore no longer being fulfilled and therefore made the employee redundant.
The worker took the matter to court in an effort to ensure that the illegality of the contract was acknowledged. The Italian appeals court decided to refer the issue to the European Court of Justice on the question of this decree’s compatibility with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and directive 2000/78 on work related discrimination.
The judges at the ECJ firstly pointed out the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of age, which member states and social partners have to respect. Highlighting the fact that the working relationship with Abercrombie and the former employee and the difference of treatment according to age within the intermittent work contract, the judges sought to determine whether this difference was justified.
In this regard, they pointed out that the above-mentioned directive authorises difference of treatment in legitimate objective cases insofar as the means are both appropriate and necessary. With regard to the objective, the ECJ argued that the decree allows the labour market to be more flexible and to promote the entry of young people onto the market, given that the level of unemployment amongst this the population is high. On the means applied, the judges considered that they are appropriate insofar as they help attain “a degree of flexibility on the labour market” and necessary in order to tackle youth unemployment.
The judges at the ECJ therefore concluded that the Italian decree was compatible with EU law. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)