YOUR
Search

    08.06.2021

    EuGH Strenghtens Equal Pay for Women and Men


    The European Court of Justice (ECJ), following a referral from Watford Employment Tribunal, has strengthened equal pay for women and men with its ruling against the British supermarket chain Tesco Stores (dated June 3, 2021 - C-624/19). In a landmark decision, the judges ruled that employees can directly invoke the EU law principle of equal pay for men and women not only in the case of "equal" work, but also in the case of work of merely "equal value".

     

    In the case underlying the ruling, several thousand female employees who mainly worked as sales assistants sued Tesco. Relying on the principle of equal pay laid down in Art. 157 TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), they claimed that they were entitled to the same remuneration as male sales staff. The fact that the sales employees work in sales centers and thus in different operations does not preclude this. Rather, the decisive factor was that the activities of the female sales staff were to be regarded as at least equivalent to those of the male sales staff. Tesco, however, took the view that the principle of equal pay only applied to the same work but not to work of equal value. The ECJ ultimately followed the plaintiffs' argumentation and ruled that employees can directly invoke the EU principle of equal pay even in the case of work of equal value. In doing so, the ECJ clarified that only those wage conditions that can be "traced back to one and the same source" are comparable. Such a source in the sense of a uniform responsibility is at least also possible in the case of different operations of a company. In concrete terms, this means that employees may at least invoke and compare the principle of equal pay across operations, i.e. throughout the company. Whether the activities of the female sales staff and those of the male sales staff in the case of Tesco are actually equivalent must now be clarified by the Watford Labor Court.

     

    The ruling is also likely to attract attention in Germany. The general requirement of equal pay for work of equal value is generally recognized under German law with regard to Article 3 of the German Constitution (Grundgesetz, GG). However, while the prohibition of discrimination in pay on the grounds of gender has already been implemented in national law with the introduction of the German Equal Pay Act (Entgelttransparenzgesetz), the general requirement of equal pay is still not established in simple law. In particular, it has not yet found explicit expression in the German General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehand-lungsgesetz, AGG). The ruling has thus provided clarity to the extent that the requirement of equal pay is now also secured under EU law. Any doubts in the interpretation of Article 3 GG and the AGG may thus be eliminated. Whether the principle of equal pay applies not only throughout the company but also throughout the group remains unclear, though, even after the ECJ ruling.

     

    Jonas Türkis

     

    [Translate to English:]
    ADVANT Beiten Advises Amphenol on Acquisit…
    Berlin, 16 October 2024 - The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has advised t…
    Read more
    ADVANT Beiten Advises the Herder Publishin…
    Freiburg, 6 August 2024 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has advised H…
    Read more
    ADVANT Beiten Advises Aesculap on Sale of TETEC AG to the Canadian Octane Group
    Dusseldorf, 26 June 2024 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided interdisciplinary advice to Aesculap AG, a subsidiary of the B. Braun group seated in Melsungen, Germany, on the sale of its…
    Read more
    ADVANT Beiten Advises COMEM Group on Acquisition of Weidmann Technologies Deutschland
    Berlin, 2 April 2024 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has comprehensively advised COMEM S.p.A., headquartered in Italy, on the acquisition of all shares in Weidmann Technologies Deutschland GmbH,…
    Read more
    Adacta and ADVANT Beiten Advise EBARA on the Acquisition of a Business Division of SKF
    Munich, 24 July 2023 - The international commercial law firm ADVANT Beiten has advised EBARA Pumps Europe S.p.A. (EPE), part of the Japanese EBARA Corporation (EBARA), on the acquisition of the business di…
    Read more
    ADVANT Beiten Advises astragon Entertainment on Takeover of Independent Arts
    Frankfurt am Main, 8 May 2023 - The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided legal advice to astragon Entertainment GmbH, Dusseldorf, a subsidiary of Team17 Group PLC, on the takeover of Independe…
    Read more
    Equal pay for men and women: negotiating skills are not an objective differentiation criterion
    Judgment of the Federal Labour Court of 16 February 2023 in Case No. 8 AZR 450/21
    Read more
    Social selection: how close an employee is to retirement can be considered to the employee’s detriment
    Judgment of the Federal Labour Court of 8 December 2022 in Case No. 6 AZR 31/22 (Press release) When performing the social selection to determine which employment relationships will be terminated for op…
    Read more
    ADVANT Beiten advises Cipla (EU) Limited on its investment in Ethris GmbH
    Berlin, 25 January 2023 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided comprehensive legal advice to Cipla (EU) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cipla Limited (“Cipla”), headquartered in Mumb…
    Read more