Translation of "Travailleur à temps réduit " (French → English) :

In its judgment delivered today, the Court finds that the directive on equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security precludes the Spanish legislation, under which a proportionally greater contribution period is required from part-time workers, the vast majority of whom are women, than from full-time workers for the former to qualify, if appropriate, for a contributory retirement pension which is already reduced in proportion to the part-time nature of their work.

Thus, a longer qualifying period is required from the part-time worker in inverse proportion to the reduction in his working hours in order to obtain a pension the amount of which is already directly and proportionately lower owing to the part-time nature of the work.

Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work, concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC and Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP require that 'in respect of employment conditions', part-time workers and employees on fixed-term contracts of employment 'shall not be treated in a less favorable manner than comparable full-time workers on permanent contracts of employment, unless different treatment is justified on objective grounds'.

Part-time workers cannot be treated less favourably than comparable full-time workers solely because they work part-time, unless it can be objectively justified.

6. The governments should ensure that, particularly as regards legislation, an employment environment conducive to part-time working is created, such that: - part-time employees are not discriminated against in relation to full-time workers on account of their part-time employment; - unnecessary hinderances to job creation are avoided, and employees and employers are allowed adequate organizational flexibility; - employees are kept informed by their employer of both part-time employment opportunities and full-time vacancies within the establishment.

The main points are set forth below: The Commission proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to certain employment relationships with regard to distortions of competition (based on Article 100 of the Treaty) provides : - that part-time and temporary workers should enjoy access to vocational training operations and social services provided by the firm under conditions comparable to those enjoyed by workers employed fulltime for an indefinite duration; they should also enjoy the same treatment as regards benefits in cash and in kind granted under social assistance schemes or under non-contributory social security schemes; - such employees should also be taken into account, on the same f ...[+++]ooting as the other employees (and in proportion to the duration of their work) for the calculation of the threshhold within the undertaking at which workers' representative bodies must be set up. Where the employer intends to use such employees, he is required to inform (and consult) in due time the workers' representative bodies within the undertaking, and in undertakings with more than 1 000 employees a regular report must be drawn up on this type of employment with regard to the development of the workforce as a whole. In the same vein, the employer is required in due time to inform part-time and temporary workers currently in employment when he proposes to recruit full-time workers for an indefinite duration, so that their applications can be given due consideration; ./.