Called up on to decide a controversial issue raised by the Employment Tribunal of Barcelona, the Europe an Court of Justice ruled that Spanish legislation regarding contributory pensions discriminated against part-time workers.

On November 22, the Court addressed the question of whether Spanish legislation complies with the European directive on equal treatment for men and women (79/7/CEE). In Spain as in the rest of Europe, part-time positions are predominantly filled by women. In its latest study on the subject, Eurostat estimated that 80% of precarious workers in Spain were women.

To be eligible for a contributory retirement pension, Spanish employees must assert their rights at a minimum age of 65 and after no fewer than 15 years of social security contributions. Despite a higher adjustment factor to calculate theoretical work days, precarious workers are required to pay considerably greater contributions than other employees on qualifying periods.

The Court thus denounced current legislation, citing its discriminatory nature for women, who account for the clear majority of precarious workers. Among other observations, the Chamber stressed that the many obligations imposed on part-time workers in order to be eligible for a retirement pension were excessively abundant and restrictive. In addition to this finding, the Court refuted the argument that eliminating precarious workers from pension schemes would safeguard the social security system. The conservative government’s defense thus clashed with the obligation of equal treatment of employees, regardless of gender or status within the company.