Palacios de la Villa v Cortefiel Servicios SA
When reaching the age of 65, Mr Palacios was notified of the automatic termination of his contract of employment on the ground that he had reached the compulsory retirement age as provided for in art.19(3) of a collective agreement and that, on July 2, 2005, a national law had been published, a single transitional provision which authorised such a measure.That single transitional provision provided that: “clauses in collective agreements concluded prior to the entry into force of this Law, which provide for the termination of contracts of employment where workers have reached normal retirement age, shall be lawful provided it is ensured that the workers concerned have completed the minimum period of contributions and satisfy the other requirements laid down in social security legislation for entitlement to a retirement pension under their contribution regime”.Mr Palacios fulfilled the last two conditions.The referring Court, inter alia, asked whether the prohibition of any discrimination based on age in employment and occupation must be interpreted as meaning that it precluded national legislation such as that in the main proceedings, pursuant to which compulsory retirement clauses contained in collective agreements were regarded as lawful, where such clauses provided as sole requirements that workers must have reached retirement age, set at 65 years by the national legislation, and must fulfil the other social security conditions for entitlement to draw a contributory retirement pension.Such was the case as regards the choice which the national authorities concerned might be led to make on the basis of political, economic, social, demographic and/or budgetary considerations and having regard to the actual situation in the labour market in a particular Member State, to prolong people's working life or, conversely, to provide for early retirement.However, the national measures laid down in that context did not go beyond what was appropriate and necessary to achieve the aim pursued by the Member State concerned.