Cadman Case - Parental Leaves and Equal Pay
Ms. Cadman, a UK health inspector, sued the UK's Health and Safety Executive in 2001 when she discovered she was earning up to £9,000 (€13,000) a year less than male workers in the same post. According to Ms Cadman her employer unjustifiably paid her male colleagues of the same grade more only because they had worked more years. The UK's Employment Tribunal initially ruled in her favour, but an appeals court referred the case to the European Court of Justice. The ECJ rejected her claim.
The European Court of Justice ruled on 3 October 2006:
Article 141 EC is to be interpreted as meaning that, where recourse to the criterion of length of service as a determinant of pay leads to disparities in pay, in respect of equal work or work of equal value, between the men and women to be included in the comparison:
– since, as a general rule, recourse to the criterion of length of service is appropriate to attain the legitimate objective of rewarding experience acquired which enables the worker to perform his duties better, the employer does not have to establish specifically that recourse to that criterion is appropriate to attain that objective as regards a particular job, unless the worker provides evidence capable of raising serious doubts in that regard;
– where a job classification system based on an evaluation of the work to be carried out is used in determining pay, there is no need to show that an individual worker has acquired experience during the relevant period which has enabled him to perform his duties better.
Leena Linnainmaa, President of the European Women Lawyers’ Association, suggests that the situation would only become fairer for women when men took more paternity leave, something most did not do even though they had the right to in most European countries.
“The fact that women take maternity leave is a great burden on their career,” she says.
“We strongly encourage men to take paternity leave and the countries that have no specific legislation on the right to paternity leave to amend their law.” EWLA’s views were published by the BBC and The Times and numerous other newspapers in different countries.
News: General - (Member) Countries - Commission - Council - Legislation - Jurisdiction - ECJ - EP - EEA
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