Limitation of claims in Directive 2023/970 and the protection of the employee’s right to equal pay
Abstract
The article presents the position that laws on limitation periods are an important element of effective protection of an employee’s right to equal pay. This should be seen in the broader context of the European legislator’s desire to make laws on equal treatment more effective and to close the pay gap. Directive 2023/970 emphasises the right to information, and this premise logically means that the beginning of the limitation period requires that the employee be aware of the infringement or that the employee can be reasonably expected, in the applicable circumstances, to be aware of the infringement. Article 21 of Directive 2023/970 provides, inter alia, that limitation periods may not begin until the claimant is aware of, or can reasonably be expected to be aware of, the infringement. This provision builds on the existing case-law of the CJEU. We argue that despite the adoption of a very similar rule in the case-law of the Supreme Court, Article 21(1) of Directive 2023/970 needs to be implemented verbatim into Polish law. This is due to structure-related doubts about the liability regime for breaches of the principle of equal treatment in employment relationships. We accept that it is contractual in nature, but this does not preclude the adoption of a subjective model for enforceability of claims, characteristic of a different tort liability regime. The reason for this is the protection of an employee. The article also argues that intertemporal problems associated with a possible optional extension of protection (the limitation period does not commence during the employment relationship) can be solved by applying the Civil Code of 23 April 1964 accordingly.
Keywords
limitation periods; discrimination; equal pay
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University of Lodz Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3927-4223
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