Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Wait for Review of Pension Status Allowed

(CN) - The Court of Justice of the European Union determined that a three-year waiting period to apply for special employment status under Austrian law does not discriminate against workers. Austrian law previously required 15 years of work at a national university before application of a higher pension bracket.

Friedrich Barth, a German national who gained Austrian citizenship after being appointed to a Vienna professorship in 1987, sued an Austrian agency over application of the higher bracket after a court case in 2003 changed this requirement.

The Austrian Administrative Court backdated his request, but did not include his years of service in Frankfurt prior to the Vienna appointment.

Barth challenged the application of a three-year waiting period under Austrian law for those seeking review of their length of service.

The Court of Justice found that the waiting period was not designed to deprive or deter a worker from his or her right to bring proceedings regarding the length of service and is not contrary to EU law.

The court concluded that member states may apply a limitation period to claims over length-of-service status.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...