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Sick man comparison not permitted

This report relates to 1 case(s)

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    Boyle and others v Equal Opportunities Commission [1998] IRLR 717 ECJ (2 other reports)

    • Maternity rights: Return or repayment provision compatible with EC law

      Date:
      1 January 1999

      A contractual term which requires a woman to undertake to return to work on the expiry of her maternity leave or otherwise to repay any amounts paid to her by her employer over and above statutory maternity pay during that period, does not contravene the equal pay principle contained in Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and the Equal Pay Directive, rules the European Court of Justice in Boyle and others v Equal Opportunities Commission.

    • ECJ draws the line

      Date:
      1 January 1999

      In Boyle and others v Equal Opportunities Commission (27 October 1998) EOR83A the European Court of Justice has distinguished between the unfavourable treatment of women because they are pregnant and the unfavourable treatment of women because they are on maternity leave.

In Boyle v Equal Opportunities Commission the European Court of Justice has rejected a challenge under EC law to the civil service maternity scheme based on the argument that women on maternity leave were treated less favourably than men on sick leave.

Margaret Boyle and her colleagues brought a test case challenging various aspects of the EOC's maternity scheme, which mirrors that of the Civil Service.