Dear EELA Members, 

We hope that you are well! Please find your bi-weekly EU Employment Law update below. Whereas the ECJ was relatively quiet in the first weeks of January, it now delivered three judgments in the past two weeks.

Recent case law highlight

In case C-193/17 (Cresco Investigation), the ECJ held that granting extra compensation for members of specific Roman Catholic churches, who have to work on Good Friday, despite their actual beliefs, constitutes discrimination against colleagues who are no member of these churches, and consequently are not entitled to compensation. The non-discrimination clause of Article 21 of the Charter also applies to private employers directly. Until the Austrian government introduces a method of discontinuing this form of discrimination, every employee working on Good Friday is entitled to this allowance.

List of recent case law

• Case C-193/17(Cresco Investigation): Granting an allowance for working on Good Friday which is subject to the membership of specific churches constitutes direct discrimination under Framework Directive 2000/78/EC. Following Article 21 of the Charter, the allowance must be paid to every employee who works on Good Friday.
• Case C‑272/17(Zyla): The free movement of workers (Article 45 TFEU) does not preclude legislation of a Member State which – in establishing the amount of social security contributions payable –makes the social security component and the annual credit proportionate to the period during which the worker was insured under the social security system of that member state.
• Case C‑477/17(Holiday on Ice): Nationals of third countries who temporarily reside and work in different Member States in the service of an employer established in a Member State may rely on the coordination rules of (Coordination) Regulation 883/2004 and 987/2009, in order to determine the applicable social security legislation, provided that they are legally staying and working in the territory of the Member States.

EU employment law news

• After the UK House of Comments voted against the Withdrawal Agreement, it is unclear what the exact next steps will be. On Tuesday 29 January 2019, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Ms May announced that she would enter into new negotiations with the EU about the backstop between Ireland and Northern Ireland, as she sees room for potential concessions from the EU. Meanwhile, the deadline of 29 March 2019 has become within two months from now. Many EU Member States are informing their citizens and businesses about possible consequences which the Brexit may have for them.

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Concluding remarks

We hope that you appreciate this newsletter to keep you up to date on EU employment law developments. Once again, if you have suggestions or requests regarding this newsletter, please send an email to eelc@law.eur.nl!

Best regards,

30 January 2019,

Zef Even
Editor-in-chief EELC

Ruben Houweling
General editor Academic Board EELC