The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday condemned Romania for not having, in the past, allowed women to work as long as men in public service. Unanimously, the seven judges of the judicial body of the Council of Europe found that Romania had violated the article of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting discrimination in general.
The court had been seized in 2018 and 2020 by two women who were forced to leave their civil service jobs when they reached the age of 60, when they wanted to continue working. At the time, the retirement age for men was set at 65 in the civil service, but at 60 for women. Legislation has now changed and both male and female civil servants can retire at the same age.
“The fact that the applicants were not allowed to continue working … until they had reached the retirement age fixed for men amounted to discrimination based on sex which was not objectively justified or necessary“, Estimated the ECHR, sitting in Strasbourg. Bucharest is ordered to pay 7,500 euros to one applicant and 1,600 euros to the other.
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