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Frédéric Hay v. Crédit Agricole Mutuel De Charente-Maritime Et Des Deux-Sèvres (E.C.J.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Emily Mackenzie
Emily Mackenzie*
Affiliation:
American Society of International Law
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Extract

On December 12, 2013, the Fifth Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ or the Court) issued its decision in Frédéric Hay v. Crédit Agricole Mutuel de Charente-Maritime et des Deux-Sévres (the Hay decision), an important ruling on the rights of same-sex couples in the workplace. Certain provisions in a collective agreement allowed employees to claim particular benefits on the occasion of a marriage, but not on the occasion of the conclusion of a form of civil partnership. The Court found that, since at the relevant time homosexual couples were only permitted to enter into civil partnership and not marriage under French law, the impugned provisions constituted direct discrimination based on sexual orientation and were therefore prohibited by the 2000 Employment Equality Framework Directive (the Equality Directive).

Type
International Legal Materials
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , June 2014 , pp. 502 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2014

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References

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the Court of Justice of the European Union website (visited July 3, 2014), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=145530&mode=req&pageIndex=1&dir=&occ=first&part=1&text=&doclang=EN&cid=381693

1 Case C-267/12, Frédéric Hay v. Crédit Agricole Mutuel de Charente- Maritime et des Deux-Sévres, 2013 E.C.R. 00000 [hereinafter Hay Decision], available at http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=145530&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dr=&occ=first&part=1&cid=167670.

2 Directive 2000/78, of the European Council of 27 November 2000 Establishing a General Framework for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation, 2000 O.J. (L 303) 16 [hereinafter Equality Directive].

3 Code Civil [C. civ.] art. 143 (Fr.), Introduced by Loi 2013- 404 du 17 mai 2013 ouvrant le mariage aux couples de personnes de même sexe [Law 2013-404 of May 17, 2013, Opening Marriage to Same Sex Couples] Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], May 18, 2013, p.8253.

4 Code Civil [C. civ.] art. 515-1 (Fr.) ( “A civil solidarity pact is a contract entered into by two natural persons of age, of different sexes or of the same sex, to organize their life together.” (translated from original)). See Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 8.

5 Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶¶ 12-13. See also Code du Travail [C.trav.] art. L.226-21 (Fr.).

6 Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 14. The collective agreement was amended so that marriage benefits were extended to the conclusion of a PACS from 2008 onwards, possibly in response to Mr. Hay’s legal challenge.

7 The tribunal is named the Conseil de prud’hommes de Saintes (the Saintes Labor Tribunal).

8 Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 19.

9 Under the Preliminary Ruling procedure pursuant to Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union art. 267, May 9, 2008, 2008 O.J. (C 115) 47.

10 Equality Directive, supra note 2, art. 2(2). 11 Case C-147/08, Römer v. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, 2011 E.C.R. I-359; Case C-267/06, Tadao Maruko v Versorgungsanstalt der deutschen Bu¨hnen 2008 E.C.R. I-01757. 12 Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶¶ 34, 39, 40. 13 See id. ¶ 43.

14 See id. ¶¶ 36-37.

15 Equality Directive, supra note 2, art. 2(5) (“[The prohibition on direct discrimination is without prejudice to] measures laid down by national law which, in a democratic society, are necessary for public security, for the maintenance of public order and the prevention of criminal offences, for the protection of health and for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”)

16 Such Member States include Germany, Finland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary.

17 Hay Decision, supra note 1, ¶ 38 (citing Conseil Constitutionnel [CC] (Constitutional Council) decision No. 2011-155, Jul. 29, 2011 (Fr.)).