14.5.2018

Official Journal of the European Union

C 166/22

(Case C-154/18)

(2018/C 166/29)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

The Labour Court, Ireland

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Tomás Horgan, Claire Keegan

Defendants: Minister for Education & Skills, Minister for Finance, Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, Ireland and the Attorney General

Questions referred

a)the revised salary scales and the existing salary scales apply to all teachers in the respective categories regardless of their age;

b)at the point at which they were recruited and placed on the respective scales there was no difference in the age profile of those in the higher paid group and those in the lower paid group;

c)the introduction of the revised scales has resulted in a substantial difference in pay as between two groups of teachers who are engaged in work of equal value;

d)the average age of those placed on the reduced salary scales is lower than that of the average age of those on the original salary scales;

e)at the point at which the lower salary scales were introduced, the State’s statistics showed that 70 % of teachers appointed were 25 years of age or under and it was acknowledged that this was typical of the age profile of entrants to national teaching in any given year; and

f)national teachers who entered the profession in 2011 and later suffer a clear financial disadvantage in comparison to their teaching colleagues appointed prior to 2011.

3. Would the answer to question 2 be different if the State could have achieved equivalent savings by reducing the pay of all teachers by a significantly lesser amount than the reduction applied only to newly recruited teachers?

(1) OJ 2000, L 303, p. 16.