The case concerns a pilot who works part-time for a German airline. His contract stipulates, among other things, that he can receive additional remuneration if, in one month, he performs a certain number of flight duty hours and exceeds the thresholds laid down in that regard in his contract.
These trigger thresholds are identical for full-time and part-time pilots.
CJEU concluded that identical trigger thresholds for additional remuneration represent a longer flight-hour duty than the full-time pilots compared to their total working time. The part-time pilots have a greater burden to bear and will satisfy the conditions for entitlement to additional remuneration much more rarely than their full-time colleagues, according to the CJEU.
This practice puts part-time pilots in a less advantageous position, which is contrary to EU law, unless there are objective grounds for such different treatment of part-time pilots