Official Journal of the European Union

C 79/15

(Case C-843/19) (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">1</span>)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Social policy - Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security - Directive 79/7/EEC - Article 4(1) - Voluntary early retirement - Early retirement pension - Eligibility - Requirement for the pension amount to be received to be at least as much as the legal minimum amount - Proportion of workers of each sex excluded from the benefit of early retirement - Justification of a potential particular disadvantage to female workers - Social policy objectives of the Member State concerned)

(2021/C 79/18)

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS)

Defendant: BT

Operative part of the judgment

Article 4(1) of Council Directive 79/7 of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude national legislation which, in the event of voluntary early retirement of a worker enrolled in the general social security scheme, makes that worker’s right to an early retirement pension contingent on the condition that the amount of that pension must be at least as much as the minimum pension to which that worker would be entitled at the age of 65, even if that law puts at a particular disadvantage female workers compared with male workers, which is for the referring court to verify, in so far as that consequence is justified by legitimate social policy objectives which are unrelated to any discrimination based on sex.

Language of the case: Spanish.