Luxembourg, 16/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Justice confirmed in a decision on Tuesday 16 October that Spanish legislation on implementation of pensions confirms with Community law on equal treatment. The Court ruled that, as part of its aim to get rid of unemployment, provisions in this legislation are neither excessive nor inappropriate (affair C-411/05).
M Palacios de la Villa contested the termination of his work contract in 2005 by his employer, Cortefiel, which he had worked for since 1981 as a director. Cortefiel used his age to justify his being pensioned off. Interpreting the said notification as a redundancy, Palacios de la Villa appealed to the Jurzgado de lo Social No.33 in Madrid, which went to the European Court of Justice on questions for a preliminary hearing regarding compliance with Spanish legislation (which tolerates this termination of a contract) and the 2000 directive on the creation of a general environment promoting equal treatment in jobs and at work (directive 2000/78/EC).
The Court initially confirmed that Spanish legislation (the “Ley 8/1980 del Estatuto de los Trabajadores) touches on the relationship between worker and his employer and on this basis, has to comply with the provisions in directive 2000/78/EC. If age discrimination is tolerated, Spanish legislation has to present sufficient reasons to justify the benefit of a derogation. The European Court considers that there really is a legitimate motive in this case, given that legislation aims to promote employment for all the different generations. In this respect, Spain is not infringing the directive, which does not call for favouritism on age but rather, better distribution of access to employment between the different generations. The measures adopted by the Spanish authorities to reach this objective were also deemed, “appropriate and necessary” as stipulated in the directive. Spanish regulation is partly based on the age of the worker but also takes into consideration the individual's pension rights. Another similar Spanish case (C-87/06, Pascual Garcia) was pending while awaiting this conclusion and therefore could go in the same direction.
In a different case British regulation was also up before the Court for non-respect of the European directive. The elderly persons' charity, “Age Concern” is currently pursuing the British government for not having correctly transposed the directive. Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 allows for the non-employment or termination of contract if a worker is over 65. The British High Court posed similar questions for a preliminary ruling as those of the Madrid court. The response is expected in the next few months (case C-388/07). A difference in stature exists between the cases: British regulation, as opposed to Spanish, is not drawn up between the different social partners and does not take into account the history of contributions of an employee or his/her financial perspectives among the conditions to highlight during the redundancy of a worker due to their age. (C.D.)