Disapplying National Law: Case Summary

When national legislation undermines the fundamental right to an effective remedy prescribed by European Union standards, the national court must disapply the relative legislation, in so far as necessary. This is because any national court cannot interpret national legislation which is inconsistent with EU law.

In the recent case C-715/20 (X (Absence de motifs de résiliation)), decided on the 20^th of February 2024, the European Court of Justice (the "ECJ") ruled that any national legislation which allows for the reasons for employment termination to be solely provided to permanent employees, undermines the fundamental right to an effective remedy for part-time employees. Therefore, a fixed-term, part-time employee, who is in a comparable situation to another permanent, whole-time employee,¹ must also always be informed of the reasons for the termination of their employment contract.