Decision of 14 March 1989
Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 43(1): 65-67
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0341-1907 PMID: 12286419 Document Number: 383479
In the Federal Rederal Republic of Germany, the plaintiff was a part-time employee of the defendant. She challenged the defendant's policy of granting pension benefits only to employees who have worked full-time for 20 years. She claimed that the policy violated provisions of the Treaty of the European Communities prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex with respect to pay since most of the part-time employees were women. The German Federal Labor Court upheld her challenge, ruling that the concept of pay equity included pension benefits and that the employer's pension policy constituted indirect discrimination against women. It also held that the employer had presented no valid reasons to justify treating part-time and full-time employees differently in this area, particularly since the employer heavily relied on part-time employees, most of whom were women. In 2 other decisions released on the same day, the Federal Labor Court held that a person who has been subjected to employment discrimination on the basis of sex is in general entitled only to nominal damages for injury to her personal rights, as opposed to economic injury resulting from reliance (Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, No. 1, 1990, pp. 65-8).