European Court of Human Rights rules that Romanian legislation discriminated women

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Romania guilty of discrimination for not allowing women to work as long as men as civil servants according to now-revised labor legislation.

The seven judges of the court unanimously found that Romania violated the article of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits discrimination.

Female civil servants in Romania had to retire earlier than men, who were allowed to work until 65. The court found that not giving the applicants the option to continue to work past the retirement age for women and until they reached the retirement age set for men had constituted discrimination based on sex, according to Agerpres.

A 2000 law set the retirement age at 60 for women and 65 for men. The applicants, Liliana Moraru and Doina Marin, sued Romania because they wanted to keep working even after reaching the age for compulsory retirement for women. When the two women reached the age of 60 and asked to be allowed to work until 65, they were refused and had their contracts terminated. They found some success by going to national courts, but subsequent appeals upheld their employers’ decision.

“Legislation and case-law in the matter have changed since the applications were lodged, and women in Romania can now work in civil-service positions until the retirement age for men,” says the ECHR in a press release.

The Romanian state was sentenced to pay the sum of EUR 7,500 to one plaintiff and EUR 1,600 to the other.

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