European Union—Social policy—Equal treatment for male and female workers

Article 2(1), (3) and (4) and Art 5 of Council Directive (EEC) 76/207 (on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions) (the Directive) precludes a national measure such as the one at issue in the main proceedings. This provides that female workers who are mothers and whose status is that of an employed person are entitled, in various ways, to take leave during the first nine months following the child’s birth, whereas male workers who are fathers with that same status are not entitled to the same leave unless the child’s mother is also an employed person.

The applicant worked for the employer from July 2004. In March 2005 he requested that he be granted