Pregnant women win EU pay battle

Pregnant workers who are granted time off or temporarily transferred to another job should retain the extra payments they normally receive, according to the European Court of Justice.

The EU's top court also ruled that they are not guaranteed the full amount, or to be paid an on-call duty allowance while on maternity leave.

The decision – binding across the EU – was sparked by two cases involving women in Austria and Finland.

During pregnancy both accepted a pay cut, before taking their cases to court to argue they should not have lost the wages.

The judges in Luxembourg ruled that there was no automatic entitlement to extra money when pregnant women are no longer doing specific tasks rewarded by extra payments.

However they decided that a pregnant worker granted leave from work or temporarily transferred to another job because of her pregnancy should receive the money they were earning before the move.

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