Denial of marriage benefits to civil partners is direct discrimination (News, 17 December 2013)

Table of contents

• Impact of this case
• Relevant background law
• The facts and decision of the French courts
• The ECJ decision

Article summary

For the purposes of a claim for benefits in terms of pay or working conditions granted at the time of an employee’s marriage, persons of the same sex who cannot enter into marriage and therefore instead conclude a civil solidarity pact (the French equivalent of a civil partnership) are in a situation which is comparable to that of couples who marry. In that context the provision of benefits to employees when they marry but not to employees when they enter into a civil solidarity pact amounts to direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation under the Equal Treatment Framework Directive, according to the ECJ in the French case of Hay v Crédit Agricole Mutuel de Charente-Maritime et des Deux-Sèvres.