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Tyrolean Airways Tiroler Luftfahrt Gesellschaft [2012] EUECJ C-132/11
Decision Number: Legal Body: cjeuecj
Published on: 15/06/2012
Issues Covered:
Discrimination
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Background Following a merger, the employment conditions of flight and cabin crews of two airlines, Tyrolean Airways and Lauda Air, have been controlled by a single collective agreement. The agreement does not make provision for periods of employment with Tyrolean Airways to be taken into account. The relevant clause divides the crews into two categories, A and B, and 25permits advancement from the former to the latter on completion of three years of service after recruitment as a member of cabin crew. A works council challenged this rule in the Austrian regional court, which in turn asked the ECJ whether or not the Equal Treatment Framework Directive (2000/78/EC) precludes such a clause in a collective agreement. The question was whether it is discriminatory to exclude identical experience acquired in the service of another airline belonging to the same group.The ECJ decided that the refusal to take into account previous service with other airlines within the group does not amount to age discrimination, as the provision related to the employee‟s date of recruitment, and the experience gained within another airline in the group which is the subject of the collective agreement, not their actual age or an event linked to age.The Court held that the clause is therefore based on a criterion that is not linked to the age of employees, although it might delay the time of advancement of some cabin crew members concerned from one pay grade to another pay grade to a later age than the time of advancement of staff members who had served with Tyrolean Airways. The ECJ concluded that the Equal Treatment Framework Directive must be interpreted so as not to preclude a provision of a collective agreement that takes into account only the professional experience acquired as a cabin crew member of a specific airline belonging to a group of companies when grading pay.http://bit.ly/KAtw9X

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 15/06/2012
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