Union law precludes national legislation which, in a comparable situation, does not offer the same additional pension to mothers and fathers in the event of disability. This is the meaning of a judgment delivered by the Court of Justice of the EU (Case No. C-450/18), Thursday 12 December, in response to a preliminary question from the Labour Court No 3 of Girona (Spain).
The case follows a complaint lodged by Mr A. concerning the amount of the pension to which he was entitled as a result of permanent work disability. The man considered that as the father of two children, his pension should be indexed by 5% as provided for in the Spanish Social Security Act for Women.
In its judgment, the EU Court of Justice rejected the Spanish authorities’ argument that this additional pension should only be paid to women “as part of their demographic contribution to social security”. Madrid justified this measure by the need to reduce the gap between the pension amounts of men and women whose career paths have been interrupted or shortened due to the fact that they have had at least two children. However, according to the judges in Luxembourg, the contribution of men to the population is just as necessary as that of women and the situations of a father and a mother can be comparable with regard to the education of children.
The Court gives reasons for its reply on the basis of the Directive on equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (79/7/EEC), which prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender.
Link to the judgment: https://bit.ly/2PBFSnG (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)