Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 6 December 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Arbeitsgericht München - Germany) - Johann Odar v Baxter Deutschland GmbH

(Case C-152/11) 

(Equal treatment in employment and occupation - Directive 2000/78/EC - Prohibition against any discrimination on grounds of age or disability - Compensation on termination of employment - Social plan providing for a reduction in the amount of redundancy compensation paid to disabled workers)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Arbeitsgericht München

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Johann Odar

Defendant: Baxter Deutschland GmbH

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling - Arbeitsgericht München - Interpretation of Articles 1, 6(1), second subparagraph, point (a), and 16 of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (OJ 2000 L 303, p. 16) - National legislation making it possible to exclude from receipt of the benefits provided for under an occupational pension scheme workers in age brackets close to the age at which a right to a retirement pension arises - Prohibition on all discrimination based on age and disability

Operative part of the judgment

1.    Articles 2(2) and 6(1) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation must be interpreted as not precluding rules of an occupational social security scheme under which, in the case of workers older than 54 years of age who are made redundant on operational grounds, a calculation is to be made of the compensation on the basis of the earliest possible date on which their pension will begin - unlike the standard method of calculation, which takes account in particular of the length of service - with the result that the compensation paid to those workers is lower than the compensation resulting from the application of that standard method, though still at least one half of the standard amount.

2.    Article 2(2) of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as precluding rules of an occupational social security scheme under which, in the case of workers older than 54 years of age who are made redundant on operational grounds, the compensation to which they are entitled is calculated on the basis of the earliest possible date on which their pension will begin - unlike the standard formula, under which account is taken inter alia of the length of service - with the result that the compensation paid is lower than the standard formula compensation, although still at least one half thereof, and that alternative calculation method takes account of the possibility of receiving an early retirement pension on the ground of disability.

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¹ - OJ C 204, 9.7.2011.