In its judgment in Case C-282/19 MIUR and Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Campania delivered on Thursday, 13 January, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruled that a suitability certificate issued by an ecclesiastical authority could not justify the systematic renewal of fixed-term contracts for Catholic religious education teachers. In the court’s view, EU law prohibits any discrimination on the basis of religion and on the basis of the fixed duration of the employment relationship.
For several years, the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) recruited some 20 teachers to teach the Catholic religion under fixed-term contracts, without ever granting them tenure.
These teachers brought the matter before the Italian national court (the referring court), which considered that Italian law transposing the European framework agreement on fixed-term work annexed to Directive 1999/70/EC prevented these teachers from being eligible for such tenure. Consequently, it considered that the claims could not be upheld.
However, the Italian court referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU in order to determine whether the Italian law was compatible with EU law, specifically with the clause in the aforementioned framework agreement and the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of religion. It also asked whether the suitability certificate required to teach religion that is issued by an ecclesiastical authority was an “objective reason” for renewing contracts.
In the court’s view, the discrimination is not based on religion but on the duration of the contracts. Given that teachers who teach other subjects are treated more favourably, [the CJEU] believes that there is, indeed, discrimination in this respect. Consequently, the Italian court must apply national law.
Moreover, the CJEU considers that clause 5 of the European framework agreement precludes Italian national legislation, unless there are provisions to prevent abuse elsewhere in domestic law. It suggests that hiring these teachers meets a fixed, long-term need—which the Italian court must nevertheless verify, according to [the CJEU].
Most importantly, in the court’s view, as the certificate is only issued once, and not every school year, and is not connected with the objectives and duration of the contracts, it cannot constitute an objective reason to justify renewing a contract indefinitely.
Link to the judgment: https://bit.ly/3K8Ii8Y (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)