Employee's claim dismissed by the courts of general jurisdiction

Case no. 351/2011
Judgment delivered on 27 August 2013.

A
vs.
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) acting for TDC A/S

The case concerned whether an employee was entitled to have his claim for compensation for age-related discrimination heard on its merits by the courts of general jurisdiction.

The employee's claim was originally the subject of industrial proceedings between the employee organisations the Danish National Union of Metalworkers (Dansk Metal) and the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark (CO-Industri) and the employer organisation the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). In this respect, the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark instigated arbitration proceedings and shortly after the request for such proceedings withdrew the case, referring to "reconsideration".

The main issue in the case was whether such information on the events was sufficient for the employee to prove that the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark had given up pursuing her claim.

The employee had not provided information on the background for the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark's withdrawal of the case. Nor did she provide information on whether she had asked the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark to motivate its decision to withdraw the case or whether she had asked the Danish National Union of Metalworkers or the Central Organisation of Industrial Employees in Denmark to carry on the case as industrial proceedings or to otherwise pursue the case.

Such evidential problems had to be to the detriment of the employee, and the Supreme Court held that she had not proved that the industrial organisations had given up pursuing her claim. Her claim could therefore not be heard by the courts of general jurisdiction which is not in contravention of Article 6(1) of the European Human Rights Convention.

The High Court had reached the same conclusion.