On 14 September, in an opinion given on a Spanish case, Advocate General Sharpston invited the Court of Justice of the European Union to rule that a collective redundancy does not always constitute an “exceptional case” allowing the employment contract of a pregnant worker to be terminated and that such a dismissal may only take place when the employer is unable to place them in a suitable role, given their condition.
The claimant, an employee of Spanish bank Bankia, contested her redundancy on the basis that she was pregnant at the time of notification. Her dismissal came as part of a collective redundancy and met the criteria for departure set in an agreement with trade unions.
Directive 89/391, which seeks to protect young and future mothers, and is known as the maternity directive, prohibits the dismissal of such individuals, except in “exceptional cases not connected with [their] condition which are perm
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