Pregnancy; dismissal; dismissing a woman because she is unavailable due to pregnancy is sex discrimination. That was the ruling of the ECJ on the reference made by the House of Lords at [1993] ICR 175: Lord Keith's speech there had reasoned that the relevant circumstance was unavailability for work and that the reason for it was not relevant. The House applied the ECJ's ruling when the case returned ([1995] ICR 1021). [Summary checked against a practitioner text, not the judgment.]
Maternity; assessment; sex discrimination; Directive 76/207/EEC, arts 2(3) and 5(1). The employer's rules required six months' presence at work for an annual performance assessment; Mrs Thibault fell short only because of her maternity leave [13]-[14]. The right to an annual assessment, and so to qualify for promotion, is part of the conditions of the contract of employment within art 5(1) [27]. The exercise of rights conferred under art 2(3) cannot be the subject of unfavourable treatment as to working conditions: the Directive pursues substantive, not formal, equality [26]. A woman still bound by her contract during maternity leave must not lose the benefit of working conditions that apply to men and women alike [29]. Depriving her of the assessment, and of the opportunity of qualifying for promotion, because of absence on maternity leave is discrimination based directly on grounds of sex [32]. The Directive precludes national rules with that effect [33].
Holiday pay; Working Time Regulations 1998; non-guaranteed overtime. A conjoined appeal heard with Bear Scotland Ltd v Fulton and AMEC Group Ltd v Law; see the Bear Scotland entry for the ratio. Article 7 of the Working Time Directive requires normal remuneration to include payments for overtime the worker is required to work although the employer is not obliged to offer it. [Summary checked against a practitioner text, not the judgment.]
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References found in the judgments’ text, with the number of paragraphs in which each case is mentioned. Not a classification: how a case was treated is recorded under Later history.