EU: the CJEC was invited to speak out about the wage comparison patterns to dig out wage discriminations

The general attorney Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer rendered his conclusions, on July 11, on a prejudicial question addressed to the Court of Justice of European Communities (CJEC) by a German jurisdiction. The latter was seized by a professor who denounced the legislation enforceable to her and which causes employees who work part-time – mostly women – to be paid less than their colleagues working full time whereas they perform – extra hours included – the same amount of hours. On this more general question of wage comparison criteria, the general attorney proposed that the CJEC has to take interest both in global wages and in every element of the salary to dig out discriminations when both these analysis methods do not get to the same result. (Ref. 070624)
Enjoy this article for free while you’re in your trial period
You have access to our content for 1 month.

Individual facts. In Germany, a teacher working part-time performing extra hours up to the same hourly wage of a professor working full time, receives a lower salary than the latter. Seized by a complainant who denounced this unfairness, a German jurisdiction addressed the CJEC a prejudicial question in order to determine if this situation did not conceal indirect gender-related discrimination – since women are a majority in the contingent of part-time workers – prohibited by european law, more

Do you have information to share with us?
What you absolutely must read this week
The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.
See all
Portugal: open consultation on the transposition of the Pay Transparency Directive
The news. On 5 August 2026, the Portuguese government published a document proposing a draft text to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive as the basis for a public consultation open until...
EU: the Commission will set up an Expert Group on the impact of AI in the world of work
The news. On 22 July 2026, the European Commission published a progress report on the EU-27’s achievements regarding the objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights, reinforced by the...
Belgium: toward an additional five days of leave following the birth of a child
The news. On 18 July, the Belgian federal government approved a draft bill introducing an additional five days of leave following the birth of a child. This entitlement would be added to existing...
Germany: a national action plan to strengthen collective bargaining
The news. On 22 July, the German federal government unveiled a national action plan to promote collective bargaining in response to the requirements of the EU minimum wage directive. The directive...