Official Journal of the European Union

C 139/2

(Case C-109/09) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Fixed-term employment contract - Directive 1999/70/EC - Equal treatment in employment and occupation - Role of the national court)

2011/C 139/02

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Defendant: Gertraud Kumpan

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesarbeitsgericht — Interpretation, first, of Articles 1, 2(1) and 6(1) 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) and, second, of Clause 5(1) of the Annex to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (OJ 1999 L 175, p. 43) — Prohibition on age discrimination — National legislation allowing fixed-term employment contracts on the sole condition that the worker has reached the age of 58 — Compatibility of that legislation with the above-cited provisions — Legal consequences of any incompatibility

Operative part of the judgment

Clause 5(1) of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work concluded on 18 March 1999 and annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘a close objective connection with a previous employment contract of indefinite duration concluded with the same employer’, provided for in Paragraph 14(3) of the Law on part-time employment and fixed-term employment contracts (Gesetz über Teilzeitarbeit und befristete Arbeitsverträge) of 21 December 2000, must be applied to situations in which a fixed-term contract has not been immediately preceded by a contract of indefinite duration concluded with the same employer and an interval of several years separates those contracts, where, for that entire period, the initial employment relationship continued for the same activity, with the same employer, by means of an uninterrupted succession of fixed-term contracts. It is for the national court, to the fullest extent possible, to interpret the relevant provisions of national law in such a way as to comply with Clause 5(1) of the Framework Agreement.

(<span class="note">1</span>) OJ C 141, 20.6.2009.