15.2.2014

Official Journal of the European Union

C 45/10

(Case C-309/12) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Request for a preliminary ruling - Directive 80/987/EEC - Directive 2002/74/EC - Protection of employees in the event of employer’s insolvency - Guarantee institutions - Limitation on the payment obligation of the guarantee institution - Wage claims falling due more than six months before the commencement of legal proceedings seeking a declaration of the employer’s insolvency)

2014/C 45/18

Language of the case: Portuguese

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Maria Albertina Gomes Viana Novo, Ezequiel Martins Dias, Gabriel Inácio da Silva Fontes, Marcelino Jorge dos Santos Simões, Manuel Dourado Eusébio, Alberto Martins Mineiro, Armindo Gomes de Faria, José Fontes Cambas, Alberto Martins do Alto, José Manuel Silva Correia, Marilde Marisa Moreira Marques Moita, José Rodrigues Salgado Almeida, Carlos Manuel Sousa Oliveira, Manuel da Costa Moreira, Paulo da Costa Moreira, José Manuel Serra da Fonseca, Ademar Daniel Lourenço Dias, Ana Mafalda Azevedo Martins Ferreira

Defendant: Fundo de Garantia Salarial IP

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Tribunal Central Administrativo do Norte — Interpretation of Arts. 4 and 10 of Council Directive 80/987/EEC of 20 October 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer (OJ 1980 L 283, p. 23) — Limitation of the liability of guarantee institutions — National legislation limiting the obligation to pay claims to those falling due during the six-month period preceding the initiation of proceedings for a declaration of the employer’s insolvency — Application of that limitation in cases in which proceedings have been brought before the labour courts to determine the value of claims that have not been paid during the six months following the date on which they fell due.

Operative part of the judgment

Council Directive 80/987/EEC of 20 October 1980 relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer, in its original version, as amended by Directive 2002/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002, must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude national legislation which does not guarantee wage claims falling due more than six months before the commencement of an action seeking a declaration that the employer is insolvent, even where the workers initiated, prior to the start of that period, legal proceedings against their employer with a view to obtaining a determination of the amount of those claims and an enforcement order to recover those sums.

Language of the case: Portuguese.