Reference to the EU Court of Justice

Case no. 15/2014
Order made on 22 September 2014

DI acting for Ajos A/S
vs.
The estate left by A

The case concerned severance allowance and non-discrimination on the grounds of age. A was dismissed at the age of 60. Despite the fact that he had been employed for many years, he did not receive severance allowance. The employer's reason for this was that under the Danish Salaried Employees Act, the employee is not entitled to severance allowance if he – as was the case for A – is covered by a non-contributory pension scheme. The hearing of the case raised the question of whether refusal to pay the allowance to A was in contravention of the EU principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of age.

The case was tried on 16 June 2014 and then set down for judgment. On 24 June 2014, the Supreme Court decided to resume preparation of the case, and on 15 August 2014, the Supreme Court decided to refer questions for a preliminary ruling to the EU Court of Justice concerning the EU principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of age.

On 22 September 2014, the Supreme Court ordered that the questions be referred to the EU Court of Justice.