Equal pay: Part-timers entitled to claim retrospective pension benefits

In Dietz v Stichting Thuiszorg Rotterdam¹, the European Court of Justice confirms that part-time workers who have been denied access to membership of an occupational pension scheme may claim redress under Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome. The ECJ goes on to hold that the temporal limitation of the Barber judgment - which generally restricts the application of Article 119 to pension benefits payable in respect of periods of service after 17 May 1990 - applies neither to the right to join a pension scheme nor to the right to payment of a retirement pension where the worker was excluded from membership of the scheme in breach of Article 119.