A New Era Of Labour Relations Enforced By European Court Of Justice - Preliminary Ruling

• Published date: 22 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Health & Safety, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations
• Law Firm: Michael Kyprianou Law Firm
• Author: Αndrea Karageorgi

One of the main tasks of the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") is issuing preliminary rulings. The ECJ interprets the European Union Law with the preliminary reference from the court or tribunal of the Member State. Once the ECJ reaches to a decision this is called a preliminary ruling and therefore this decision can not be appealed.

The courts of each Member State havethe capacity to seek a preliminary ruling where a provision of the EU Law appears to be either unclear or ambiguous or in cases where it is considered to be necessary in order for a judge be able to rule (Article 267(2) TFEU). The case proceedings will be adjourned until the ECJ ruling is issued. The ECJ has the power to rule only on matters that are related to the validity and interpretation of the EU Law and leave the application, remedies and costs at the national court's discretion.

However, if the ECJ has published on a judgement regarding a point in a previous case, then there is no obligation on the ECJ to refer again. As it was mentioned in case C-28/62 Da Costa, the decision is considered to be res judicata and therefore binding. The ECJ judgement is binding on all EU Member States, and it is not restricted to the Member State that has requested a ruling. Consequently, since the preliminary ruling is binding on all the EU Member States this ensures that EU law is properly applied and the risk of having different interpretations and being misleading is restricted.

In a recent case (case C-55/18 CCOO) the ECJ was requested by the National High Court of Spain to establish a preliminary ruling regarding whether or not it was mandatory for the employers to introduce systems that would measure the duration of the working hours of each employee daily.

The dispute was between a workers' union that was part of a trade union in Spain and Deutsche Bank regarding the measurement of working time and overtime and the failure of Spanish law to ensure proper compliance with the fundamental workers' rights towards a more fair and just working conditions, as they had been assured of in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and implemented by the Directives on Working Time and the Safety and Health of Workers. The Applicant's claim was based on Articles 34 and 35(5) of the Workers statute in interpretation with Article 31(2) of the Charter of Fundamental rights of the European Union to set a system that would record every employee's working hours each day.

It should be mentioned that the main...