THE Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has ruled that civil servants on job share schemes should receive incremental credit based on their calendar years of service, rather than hours worked. The ruling could have implications for other public service workers.
An estimated 10,000 job sharers might be affected, the vast majority of them women. Observing the ruling could cost about £16 million, but this could rise substantially if proposals by the Government to extend jobsharing in the public service go ahead.
A test case was taken to the Labour Court on behalf of two clerical assistants by the Civil and Public Service Union in 1991 and for the first time the court used its right of appeal to the European Court.
The Advocate General, Mr Antonio La Pergola, gave his ruling yesterday. It is the penultimate stage in the process, but the full court is expected to concur with him. Mr La Pergola ruled largely in favour of the CPSU.
The Department of Finance would not comment on the case last night. A spokeswoman said it would await the full court decision and then seek further legal advice.
However, the CPSU deputy general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, welcomed the "very important ruling for women in employment - which would ensure that women cannot suffer a loss of pay because they take time out from the workforce for family and domestic reasons. Hopefully it may go some way towards promoting a better gender balance of people who job share." The chief executive of the Employment Equality Agency, Ms Carmel Foley, said: it was "a significant step forward for the rights of jobsharers."