«(Indirect discrimination against women workers – Compensation for attendance at training courses providing members of staff committees with the knowledge necessary for performing their functions)»

1.. Social policy – Men and women workers – Equal pay – Pay – Concept – Compensation for taking part in staff representation – Included (EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

2.. Social policy – Men and women workers – Equal pay – Compensation for loss of earnings due to attendance at training courses for staff committee members held during full-time working hours – National rules limiting compensation for part-time employees attending courses to their individual working hours – Difference of treatment compared with full-time employees attending courses – Part-time staff consisting mainly of women – Different treatment not permissible without objective justification (EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber) 7 March 1996 (1)

((Indirect discrimination against women workers – Compensation for attendance at training courses providing members of staff committees with the knowledge necessary for performing their functions))

In Case C-278/93,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Arbeitsgericht Bremen, Germany, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

and

on the interpretation of Article 119 of the EEC Treaty and of Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women (OJ 1975 L 45, p. 19),

THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),,

composed of: C.N. Kakouris, President of the Chamber, G.F. Mancini, F.A. Schockweiler, P.J.G. Kapteyn and J.L. Murray (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: M. Darmon,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Edith Freers and Hannelore Speckmann, represented by Klaus Lörcher, Justitiar der Deutschen Postgewerkschaft ─ Hauptvorstand, the German Government, represented by Ernst Röder, and the Commission, represented by Horstpeter Kreppel, at the hearing on 28 April 1994,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 5 July 1994,

gives the following

...

...

On those grounds,

THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),

in answer to the questions referred to it by the Arbeitsgericht Bremen, by order of 5 May 1993, hereby rules:

Kakouris

Mancini

Schockweiler

Kapteyn

Murray

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 7 March 1996.

R. Grass

C.N. Kakouris

Registrar

President of the Sixth Chamber