Kücükdeveci v Swedex GmbH & Co Case C-555/07 ECJ

age discrimination | notice periods | length of service

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that a German law excluding employment before the age of 25 when calculating notice periods based on length of service is contrary to the Employment Framework Directive (2000/78/EC).

Ms Kücükdeveci had worked at Swedex GmbH & Co since she was 18, but was dismissed in 2006 when she was aged 28. German law meant that the service she had completed before she reached 25 was disregarded when deciding her statutory notice period. She was entitled to the notice period for only three years' service. Ms Kücükdeveci claimed before the German Labour Court that this was age discrimination contrary to the Employment Framework Directive. The German Labour Court made a reference to the ECJ.

The ECJ accepted that the German rules on notice periods treated employees who start a job before they are 25 less favourably under the Employment Framework Directive. The ECJ went on to consider whether or not the less favourable treatment is objectively justified. It pointed out that that the referring court had said that the aim of the national legislation is to afford employers greater flexibility in personnel management by alleviating the burden on them in respect of the dismissal of young workers, from whom it is reasonable to expect a greater degree of personal or occupational mobility. However, the ECJ said that the legislation is not appropriate for achieving that aim, since it applies to all employees who joined the undertaking before the age of 25, whatever their age at the time of dismissal. The legislation affects young employees unequally, in that it affects young people who enter active life early after little or no vocational training, but not those who start work later after a long period of training.

Case transcript of Kücükdeveci v Swedex GmbH & Co (on the ECJ website).

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