LIST OF CASES / Magorrian and Cunningham v Eastern HSS Board 1998

[1998] ICR 979 , ECJ Case C-246/96 (also reported at [1998] IRLR 86)

NOTES

Magorrian and Cunningham v Eastern Health and Social Services Board and Department of Health and Social Services [1998] IRLR 86, ECJ Case C-246/96 on 11th December 1997.

The full text ECJ judgment in this case is available free of charge on the BAILII website.

Authority for the proposition that

Northern Irish and UK rules are contrary to EC law to the extent that they limit to two years the period in respect of which a part-time employee who has been unlawfully excluded from membership of an occupational pension scheme can claim compensation.

Note (1) the "2 year rule" in this case is in the Northern Ireland Occupational Pension regulations. However the same principle, that the 2 year back-dating limit is unlawful, will also apply to similar rules in the UK Occupational Pension Schemes (Equal Treatment) Regulations 1995, SI 1995/3183 and more generally in the UK Equal Pay Act 1970 s.2(5).

Note (2) the ECJ did not, in this case, address the related question of the legality of the UK requirement that a claim for back-dated membership of an occupational pension scheme must be brought within 6 months of leaving the employment (see TIME-LIMITS/for various applications to employment tribunals/equal pay act claims ). As Mrs Magorrian and Mrs Cunningham were both still employees when they lodged their applications this 6 month time limit was irrelevant.

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prepared Dec97;