An age limit in a trade union’s statutes for eligibility for the presidency of that workers’ organisation falls within the scope of the anti-discrimination directive (2000/78), according to a judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday, 2 June (Case C-587/20).
Danish A has been a permanent member of a local branch of the Danish trade union HK from 1978 and was elected president of the HK/Privat federation between 1993 and 2011. This political role involved certain elements of a job (full-time employment, monthly remuneration and paid holidays). A complained that she was prevented from standing for re-election to presidency of the federation, since the statutes impose an age limit of 63 years.
In its judgment, the Court upheld that the Anti-Discrimination Directive is applicable to the case. According to the European Commission, EU law covers the conditions of access to any professional activity, irrespective of its nature and characteristics. It also adds that, based on the ‘anti-discrimination’ provisions (Article 19) of the TFEU, the purpose of the Directive is to eliminate, on the grounds of social and public interest, any obstacle based on discriminatory grounds to access to the means of subsistence and to the ability to contribute to society through work, irrespective of the legal form under which work such as this is provided.
Furthermore, the Court is of the opinion that the political nature of the position of president of a trade union federation has no bearing on the application of the Directive, since it applies to both the private and public sectors and irrespective of the branch of activity. The same also applies to the method of recruitment for the post in question, namely election. The Court held that these assessments are not called into question by the argument relating to the right of workers’ organisations to elect their representatives, which falls under the freedom of association enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 12).
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/1xt (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)