Dear EELA Members,

We hope that you are well! Please find your bi-weekly EU Employment Law update below. In the past two weeks, the ECJ delivered two new judgments. Moreover, there are important legislative developments.

Recent case law highlight

In case C-49/18(Escribano Vindel), the ECJ held that Article 21 of the Charter and Articles 2(1) and 2(2)(b) of Directive 2000/78 on equal treatment in employment and occupation did not prevent the Spanish government from making salary cuts in wages of judges, which in particular impacted the lower scales. Escribano Vindel argued that the judges situated in the lower scales tend to be younger and/or have less seniority. The ECJ ruled that the remuneration of the judges varies according to objective factors which differentiate between the separate categories of members of the judiciary, those categories are not in comparable situations. Even if there would be discrimination based on length of service, this criterium is not mentioned in (and, hence, not protected by) the Directive. The ECJ also found that the salary cuts did not breach the principle of judicial independence.

List of recent case law

• Case C-179/18(Rohart): Article 4(3) TEU, in conjunction with the Staff Regulations of the EU preclude legislation of a Member State which – as regards pension – do not treat military service of EU officials equally.
• Case C-49/18(Escribano Vindel): Article 21 of the Charter and Article 2(1) and (2)(b) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC do not preclude national legislation on salary-reductions, having more impact on lower pay grades.
• Case C-322/17(Bogatu): Regulation 883/2004 must be interpreted such that a person does not have to be an employed in a Member State to be entitled to family benefits for his children living in another member state.

EU employment law news

• Early this month, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the Commission’s proposal for a new directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, in particular for workers in non-standard forms of employment. Both the European Parliament and the Council must now formally adopt the provisional agreement. The proposal can be found here, whereas a fact sheet (including a summary of all measures) can be found here. Other relevant information is available through this link.
• At the end of January, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the Commission’s proposal for a new directive on work-life balance for parents and carers (and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU). Both the European Parliament and the Council must now formally adopt the provisional agreement. The proposal can be found here, whereas a fact sheet (including a summary of all measures) can be found here. Other relevant information is available through this link.

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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,

13 February 2019,

Zef Even
Editor-in-chief EELC

Ruben Houweling
General editor Academic Board EELC