The Advocate General has delivered his opinion in the ECJ case of Preston & ors v Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS Trust. This is a test case challenging time limits under the Equal Pay Act 1970 for bringing claims seeking full membership of occupational pension schemes for part-time workers. The EqPA states that part-timers can only bring claims seeking retrospective instatement into a scheme within six months after termination of employment and that any compensation claim was limited to benefits in respect of the two year period before such claims were brought. Both these time limits were challenged in this case. The A-G’s opinion provides that the six month time limit for bringing a claim is lawful but that the two year back time limit was not, and that part-time workers were therefore entitled to backdate their pension claims to April 1976 when the ECJ first upheld the direct effect of Article 119. The A-G also stated that employees will only be able to secure retrospective membership of contributory pension schemes if they first pay any contributions due from them in respect of the periods of part-time work for which they seek recognition. If the ruling is followed by the ECJ (decision expected in a few months) it is estimated it will cost UK industry between £10 - £17 billion.
For further information please contact Susan Nickson, Trinity Court, 16 John Dalton Street, Manchester M60 8HS, Tel: +44 161 830 5000.
This article was first published in the September 1999 issue of Hammond Suddards' Employment Newsletter.
The information and opinions contained in this article are provided by Hammond Suddards. They should not be applied to any particular set of facts without appropriate legal or other professional advice.
