EU: the ECJ ruled that the German rules for calculating the notice period based on age are discriminatory

Facts. The German Civil Code provides that notice periods vary with the workers’ seniority in the job but that the periods completed before the employee reaches the age of 25 are not taken into account for calculating the notice period. An employee, working since the age of 18 in the same company, went to court to have the discriminatory character established for the Civil Code article that bans taking into account the seven years she spent in the company before the age of 25. Indeed, pursuant to the abovementioned Civil Code article, the employer calculated the notice period as if the employee had three years’ length of service, although she had been in his employment for 10 years. The district court gave the employee satisfaction. The appeal court asked the ECJ to define whether this provision represented age discrimination, prohibited by Community law, namely Directive 2000/78 establishing a general framework for equal treatment.
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ment for 10 years. The district court gave the employee satisfaction.
The appeal court asked the ECJ to define whether this provision represented age
discrimination, prohibited by Community law, namely Directive 2000/78
establishing a general framework for equal treatment.


Unfair age
discrimination
.

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