Ms Riežniece was a principal adviser to one of the Latvian Government's departments. She took parental leave from 14 November 2007 to 6 May 2009. During this time the government decided to abolish one of its principal adviser posts, although the post to be abolished made no reference to any particular official. In order to determine which official would be affected by the abolishment of that post, the performance and qualifications of four officials, including Ms Riežniece, were assessed. Consequently, Ms Riežniece was moved to an advisory position in a different department but that, too, was under threat and she was made redundant on the ground that her new post was being abolished.

The CJEU has ruled that it is unlawful to transfer an employee on parental leave to another post where the employer knows that post might be made redundant: "The employer may not render nugatory the right of a worker who has taken parental leave to be transferred to another post, in accordance with the conditions laid down in clause 2.5 of the Framework Agreement on Parental Leave, by offering that worker a post which is due to be abolished."

The Court laid down further criteria for the assessment of workers where those on parental leave might be at risk: "In order not to place workers who have taken parental leave at such a disadvantage, the assessment must comply with a certain number of requirements. In particular, it must encompass all workers liable to be affected by the abolishment of the post. Such an assessment must also be based on criteria which are absolutely identical to those which apply to workers in active service. Moreover, the 47 implementation of those criteria must not involve the physical presence of the workers, a condition which a worker on parental leave is unable to fulfil." http://bit.ly/11IO6ZV