Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2024/2388

8.4.2024

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 22 February 2024 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid — Spain) — MP (C-59/22), IP (C-110/22), IK (C-159/22) v Consejería de Presidencia, Justicia e Interior de la Comunidad de Madrid (C-59/22), Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (C-110/22), Agencia Madrileña de Atención Social de la Comunidad de Madrid (C-159/22)

(Joined Cases C-59/22, C-110/22 and C-159/22, (1) Consejería de Presidencia, Justicia e Interior de la Comunidad de Madrid and Others)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Social policy - Directive 1999/70/EC - Framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP - Fixed-term employment contracts in the public sector - Staff having non-permanent contracts of indefinite duration - Clauses 2 and 3 - Scope - Concept of ‘fixed-term worker’ - Clause 5 - Measures to prevent and penalise the abuse of successive fixed-term employment contracts or relationships - Equivalent legal measures)

(C/2024/2388)

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: MP (C-59/22), IP (C-110/22), IK (C-159/22)

Defendants: Consejería de Presidencia, Justicia e Interior de la Comunidad de Madrid (C-59/22), Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (C-110/22), Agencia Madrileña de Atención Social de la Comunidad de Madrid (C 159/22)

Operative part of the judgment

1.Clauses 2 and 3 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is 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 a worker having a non-permanent contract of indefinite duration must be regarded as a fixed-term worker, within the meaning of that framework agreement, and, therefore, as falling within the scope of that agreement.

2.Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as meaning that the expression ‘use of successive fixed-term employment contracts or relationships’ in that provision encompasses a situation in which, since the administration concerned failed to organise within the relevant deadline a selection procedure seeking definitively to fill the post occupied by a worker having a non-permanent contract of indefinite duration, that worker’s temporary contract with that administration was automatically extended.

3.Clause 5(1)(a) to (c) of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which does not provide for any of the measures referred to in that provision or an ‘equivalent legal measure’, within the meaning of that provision, in order to prevent the abuse of non-permanent contracts of indefinite duration.

4.Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides for the payment of limited compensation, equal to 20 days’ salary for each year worked, up to a limit of one year’s pay, to any worker whose employer has abused non-permanent contracts of indefinite duration successively extended, where the payment of that end-of-contract compensation is independent of any consideration relating to the lawful or abusive nature of the use of those contracts.

5.Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as precluding national provisions under which ‘unlawful actions’ give rise to liability on the part of the public administrations, ‘in accordance with the rules in force in each of [those] public administrations’, where those national provisions are not effective and a deterrent in order to ensure that the measures taken pursuant to that clause are fully effective.

6.Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which provides for the organisation of procedures for the consolidation of temporary employment, by means of the publication of vacancy notices to fill the posts occupied by temporary workers, including non-permanent workers having contracts of indefinite duration, where that organisation is independent of any consideration relating to the abusive nature of the use of those temporary contracts.

7.Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, concluded on 18 March 1999, which is annexed to Directive 1999/70, must be interpreted as meaning that in the absence of adequate measures in national law to prevent and, where necessary, penalise, pursuant to Clause 5, abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term contracts, including non-permanent contracts of indefinite duration which have been extended successively, the conversion of those temporary contacts into permanent contracts is capable of constituting such a measure. It is, as the case may be, for the national court to amend the established national case-law if it is based on an interpretation of the provisions of national law, including constitutional provisions, which is incompatible with the objectives of Directive 1999/70 and, in particular, of Clause 5 of the Framework Agreement.

(1)

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2388/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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JUDGMENT OF 6. 3. 2025 – CASE C-41/24 WALTHAM ABBEY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

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Language of the case: Spanish.