In March 2000, the District Court ordered the Luxembourg government to pay nominal damages of one franc to the CGFP civil servants' trade union for misleading it in 1990 when an agreement guaranteeing the integrity of the civil service pension scheme was signed.
Download article in original language : LU0004131NFR.DOC
In March 2000, the District Court ordered the Luxembourg government to pay nominal damages of one franc to the CGFP civil servants' trade union for misleading it in 1990 when an agreement guaranteeing the integrity of the civil service pension scheme was signed.
On 21 July 1998, the Chamber of Deputies passed a law reducing the pension entitlements of civil servants and state employees (LU9808173F). In the course of parliamentary debates, the General Public Sector Confederation (Confédération Générale de la Fonction Publique, CGFP) cited an agreement dated 28 September 1990 whereby the Minister for the Civil Service "guaranteed the integrity of the civil servants' pension scheme".
As the new law breached this undertaking, CGFP issued a summons for the Prime Minister to appear before the District Court (Tribunal d'arrondissement) in order to establish whether the draft law before parliament broke a civil undertaking, and, if so, to have the bill withdrawn.
On 16 March 2000, the District Court delivered its judgment in the case. In the first instance, in view of the principle of the separation of powers, the Court declared that it was not empowered to forbid parliament from amending a law, and that no government could refuse to bring a bill dealing with pensions reform to the attention of the Chamber of Deputies. The Court nonetheless held that "the text signed on 28 September 1990 was effectively a contract and that, by giving a written undertaking, the government had misled the union."
The Court concluded that CGFP could regard the failure to comply with this undertaking as a serious humiliation, and thus awarded damages - not of LUF 5 million as claimed, but of a "nominal one franc".
The judgment was handed down as the current Minister for the Civil Service was negotiating with CGFP on renewal of the civil service pay agreement, and just when the parties had succeeded in resuming a social dialogue (LU0001125N).
CGFP is not seeking any political follow-up to the ruling, but is calling on the state, as a social partner, to approach negotiations more honestly in future.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2000), Court awards union nominal damages of one franc, article.
