28.4.2014

Official Journal of the European Union

C 129/5

(Case C-595/12) (*)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Social policy - Directive 2006/54/EC - Equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation - Training course for acquiring the status of a public official - Exclusion on grounds of a prolonged absence - Absence attributable to maternity leave))

(2014/C 129/05)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Loredana Napoli

Defendant: Ministero della Giustizia — Dipartimento dell’Amministrazione penitenziaria

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per il Lazio — Interpretation of Articles 2(2)(c), 14(2) and 15 of Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (OJ 2006 L 204, p. 23) — Direct effect — Course for acquiring the status of a public official — National legislation providing, in the event of justified absence exceeding 30 consecutive days, for exclusion from the course and enrolment on the next course — Absence attributable to maternity leave.

Operative part of the judgment

Article 15 of Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which, on grounds relating to the public interest, excludes a woman on maternity leave from a vocational training course which forms an integral part of her employment and which is compulsory in order to be able to be appointed definitively to a post as a civil servant and in order to benefit from an improvement in her employment conditions, while guaranteeing her the right to participate in the next training course organised, the date of which is nevertheless uncertain.

Article 14(2) of Directive 2006/54 does not apply to national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which does not limit a specified activity solely to male workers but which delays access to that activity for female workers who have been unable to receive full vocational training as a result of compulsory maternity leave.

The provisions of Article 14(1)(c) and Article 15 of Directive 2006/54 are sufficiently clear, precise and unconditional to have direct effect.

*

Language of the case: Italian

(1) OJ C 86, 23.3.2013.