Employers must be able to prove that women's lower wages are attributable to their lesser experience and professional skills due to their generally shorter service time, the Court of Justice has ruled.
Background:
Article 141 of the EC Treaty stipulates that "each member state shall ensure that the principle of equal pay for male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value is applied". However, male colleagues of British health inspector Bernadette Cadman, although on the same professional grade as her, were paid up to 9,000 pounds sterling (around 13,300 euro) a year more than she was.
Cadman works as a health inspector for the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is, ironically, in charge of promoting gender equality in the workplace within the UK. THe HSE applies a system of pay increases that rewards length of service. In the case of Cadman, the HSE justified her lower wages because of the time she had taken off to raise her children had not contributed to her professional experience.
See full Press Release.
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