Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)

• Author: Panagiota Petroglou
• Pages: 50-62

50

4 Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the

Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast D irective 2006/54)

4.1 General (legal) context

4.1.1 Surveys on the gender pay gap and the difficulties of realising to equal pay

A rare but encouraging signal of the awareness of social partners of the gender-related

equal pay issue was the publication of a research document entitled Addressing the gender

pay gap. The EU action plan 2017-2019 and the role of the social partners and social

dialogue for the Institute of Small Enterprises of the Hellenic Confederation of

Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE), written by Ioanna Profyri in March

2018.200 The research took place in the framework of the ΡInstitutional, operational and

research Empowerment of GSEVEEΣ project, co-funded by Greece and the European Union

(European Social Fund) th rough the Ope rational Project ΡDevelopment of Human

Resources, Education and On-going training 2014-2020Σ, which makes it an interesting

example of mainstreaming gender equality through the European funding programm es.

4.1.2 Surveys on the difficulties of realising equal treatment at wo rk

An interesting survey on the Greek case law which led to the CJEU Kalliri case was

published in 2018 by a judge of the First Instance Administrative Court.201 The author

criticises the Kalliri judgment, a rguing that it is not clear enough and does not show the

way forward concerning access for women to the police force. However, the author agrees

with the CJEUΣs finding that the aim pursued by the law at issue could be achieved by

measures that are less disadvantageous to women, such as a pre-sel ection of candidates

to the competition for entry into Schools for Police Officers and Policemen based on specific

tests allowing their phy sical ability to be assessed; e ven in this case, very stri ct jud icial

control is needed as to whether such measures are justified by genuin e occupational

requirements.

In another pape r published in 2018 by an academic202 the issue of common at hletic

requirement as a form of indirect gender discrimination was raised, inter alia. A strong

criticism is made of CS 26/2016 which by a very vague reasoning found this discrimination

to be objectively justified by the nature of the duties of the municipal police. However, the

paper praises the di ssenting opinion of a judge, who found that these requir ements are

neither necessary nor appropriate for the duties of the municipal police. It is proposed that

the issue should be dealt with by the CS 7-member section or that a preliminary reference

should be submitted to the CJEU.

200 Profyri, . (2018), Ρ     .     2017-2019

         Σ (Addressing the gender pay gap. The EU

action plan 2017-2019 and the role of the social partners and of the social dialogue), Research documents

of the Institute of Small Enterprises of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen & Merchants

(IME GSEVEE), 3/2018, available at:

https://imegsevee.gr/%ce%b4%ce%b7%ce%bc%ce%bf%cf%83%ce%b9%ce%b5%cf%8d%cf%83%ce%

b5%ce%b9%cf%82/%ce%b5%cf%81%ce%b5%cf%85%ce%bd%ce%b7%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%ba%cf%8

c-%ce%ba%ce%b5%ce%af%ce%bc%ce%b5%ce%bd%ce%bf-%ce%b7-

%ce%b1%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%bc%ce%b5%cf%84%cf%8e%cf%80%ce%b9%cf%83%ce%b7-

%cf%84%ce%bf%cf%85-%ce%ad%ce%bc%cf%86%cf%85%ce%bb%ce%bf%cf%85-

%ce%bc%ce%b9%cf%83%ce%b8%ce%bf%ce%bb%ce%bf%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%ba%ce%bf%cf%8d-

%cf%87%ce%ac%cf%83%ce%bc%ce%b1%cf%84%ce%bf%cf%82/.

201 Kofinis, S. (2018), Ρ   :        

 Σ (τn the bed of Procrustes: The height of candidates for police academies under review),

     () (Theory and practice of administrative law) 2018, pp. 475

et s.

202 Goulas, D. (2018), Ρ          

   Σ (εinimum height of candidates irrespective of sex for participation in the

contest for access to the police academy),    () (European Law

Review), 1:2018, pp. 104-112.