Europa A contribution to a retirement benefits scheme which is paid by an employer on behalf of employees by means of an addition to the gross salary and which therefore helps to determine the amount of that salary constitutes ‘pay’ within the meaning of the second paragraph of article 119 of the EEC treaty. Directive 75/117/EEC is based on the concept of ‘pay’ as defined in the second paragraph of article 119 of the EEC Treaty. Although article 1 of the directive explains that the concept of ‘same work’ contained in the first paragraph of article 119 of the treaty includes cases of ‘work to which equal value is attributed’, it in no way affects the concept of ‘pay’ contained in the second paragraph of article 119 but refers by implication to that concept. Article 119 of the EEC treaty applies directly to all forms of discrimination which may be identified solely with the aid of the criteria of equal work and equal pay referred to by the article in question, without national or community measures being required to define them with greater precision in order to permit of their application. The forms of discrimination which may be thus judicially identified include cases where men and women receive unequal pay for equal work carried out in the same establishment or service, public or private. This is the case where the requirement to pay contributions to a retirement benefits scheme applies only to men and not to women and the contributions payable by men are paid by the employer on their behalf by means of an addition to the gross salary the effect of which is to give men higher pay within the meaning of the second paragraph of article 119 than that received by women engaged in the same work or work of equal value.
Citations:
C-69/80, [1981] 1 WLR 950, [1981] ICR 558, [1981] 2 All ER 434, R-69/80, [1981] EUECJ R-69/80
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Cited by:
Cited – Pickstone v Freemans Plc HL 30-Jun-1988
The claimant sought equal pay with other, male, warehouse operatives who were doing work of equal value but for more money. The Court of Appeal had held that since other men were also employed on the same terms both as to pay and work, her claim . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Discrimination, Employment
Updated: 21 May 2022; Ref: scu.133026