14.7.2012

Official Journal of the European Union

C 209/3

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Social n° 1 de Córdoba (Spain) lodged on 17 April 2012 — Rafaela Rivas Montes v Instituto Municipal de Deportes de Córdoba (IMDECO)

(Case C-178/12)

2012/C 209/04

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Social n° 1 de Córdoba

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Rafaela Rivas Montes

Defendant: Instituto Municipal de Deportes de Córdoba (IMDECO)

Questions referred

1.Is it consistent with the Community principle of equality (in the terms in which it has been defined by the Court of Justice) for a given public authority (here the IMDECO), for the purposes of calculating its employees’ length-of-service salary increments, to take into account solely the character of the legal relationship linking the authority and the employees, either of a public service or of a contractual kind, and consequently in the former case (civil servants), in accordance with the Ley estatal funcionarial vigente, for it to take into account without distinction all service, current and past, performed in any part of the public authorities in general (that is, in that particular public authority — IMDECO — or in any another type of public authority), while in contrast, in the latter case (staff engaged under employment contracts), in accordance with the Ley estatal laboral vigente and the case law interpreting it, it takes into account only the service previously provided to that particular public authority (IMDECO), provided however that there is no temporary break in the chain of contracts covering the services which would suggest that the essential unity of the legal-employment relationship had been broken, insofar as, in such a case, the days worked immediately before such a break are disregarded?

2.If the answer to the first question is in the negative (that is, if the Court of Justice considers that such an action carried out by a public authority — in this case IMDECO — infringes the Community principle of equality), should the restoration of the principle of equality be carried out through the application of the Ley estatal funcionarial to staff engaged under employment contracts?