ECJ 19 September 2013, case C-5/12 (Marc Betriu Montull - v - INSS), Gender discrimination

The Spanish Workers’ Statute grants maternity leave lasting 16 weeks. Of these, six must be...

ECJ 12 September 2013, case C-614/11 (Niederösterreichische Landes-Landwirtschaftskammer - v - Anneliese Kuso), Gender discrimination

Ms Kuso was employed on the basis of a permanent employment contract that provided that it would...

ECJ 12 September 2013, case C-614/11 (Niederösterreichische Landes-Landwirtschaftskammer - v - Anneliese Kuso), Gender discrimination

Ms Kuso was employed on the basis of a permanent employment contract that provided that it would...

2013/56 Termination during maternity leave was self-inflicted (DK)

It was not in conflict with the Danish Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women when the employers of two employees regarded the employees’ failure to fulfil their conditions of employment during childbirth-related leave as resignation.

2013/56 Termination during maternity leave was self-inflicted (DK)

It was not in conflict with the Danish Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women when the employers of two employees regarded the employees’ failure to fulfil their conditions of employment during childbirth-related leave as resignation.

2013/52 Dismissal discriminatory even if HR department was unaware of real reason for dismissal (AT)

An Austrian woman with a Polish background was dismissed following taunts about her ethnicity, even though the HR department was given a different reason to dismiss her (sickness absence) and said it would not have dismissed her had it known the real reason. The Court found against the employer, demonstrating that it was responsible for the employee’s discrimination by her manager despite the manager having deceived the employer into dismissing the employee.

2013/52 Dismissal discriminatory even if HR department was unaware of real reason for dismissal (AT)

An Austrian woman with a Polish background was dismissed following taunts about her ethnicity, even though the HR department was given a different reason to dismiss her (sickness absence) and said it would not have dismissed her had it known the real reason. The Court found against the employer, demonstrating that it was responsible for the employee’s discrimination by her manager despite the manager having deceived the employer into dismissing the employee.

2014/17 Italian law on facilities for unions discriminatory and unconstitutional (IT)

When the car manufacturer Fiat terminated the national collective agreements to which it was a party and entered into a new, company-level collective agreement for one of its factories, a large trade union, FIOM, refused to sign up to it. Fiat applied section 19 of the Workers’ Statute to deny FIOM certain benefits, such as the right to call meetings with staff during working hours and the right to use company facilities. The Constitutional Court declared the section unconstitutional on the basis that it discriminated unreasonably against unions that are not a party to a collective agreement despite representing a large segment of the workforce.

2014/17 Italian law on facilities for unions discriminatory and unconstitutional (IT)

When the car manufacturer Fiat terminated the national collective agreements to which it was a party and entered into a new, company-level collective agreement for one of its factories, a large trade union, FIOM, refused to sign up to it. Fiat applied section 19 of the Workers’ Statute to deny FIOM certain benefits, such as the right to call meetings with staff during working hours and the right to use company facilities. The Constitutional Court declared the section unconstitutional on the basis that it discriminated unreasonably against unions that are not a party to a collective agreement despite representing a large segment of the workforce.

2014/5 Paying for a disabled employee’s private counselling was a reasonable adjustment (UK)

The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (‘EAT’) has decided that it would have been a reasonable adjustment for an employer to pay for a disabled employee to have private psychiatric counselling to assist with her work-related stress and depression.