Today’s topic is the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of December 7, 2023, which concerns a job offer for a personal assistant to a disabled person that mentions the minimum age and maximum age of the person being recruited for the position in question.
What happened was as follows – a company that provides assistance and advice services to disabled people, aimed at the autonomous and independent management of their daily lives, published a job offer stating that a 28-year-old student was looking for female personal assistants to help her in all areas of daily life, “preferably aged between 18 and 30”.
One of the candidates felt that he had not been selected in the recruitment process because of his age, claiming that there had been discrimination in this regard.
The question is whether the legal rules[1] on equal treatment in employment and occupation should be interpreted as precluding the recruitment of a person providing personal assistance from being subject to an age requirement.
The CJEU considers that these legal precepts are not contrary to the interpretation that the recruitment of a person for the above-mentioned position is subject to the condition of age, basing this decision on respect for the individual will and free choice of people who are entitled to personal assistance services due to their disability, as well as the protection of the rights and freedoms of others and respect for their self-determination.
In short, it is reasonable to assume that a person who belongs to the same age group as the disabled person will fit in more easily in the latter’s personal, social and university environment, and this is the ratio underlying the Decision under analysis.
Daniela Martins @ DCM | Littler
[1] In particular, Article 2(5), Article 4(1), Article 6(1) and/or Article 7 of Directive 2000/78, read in the light of the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and Article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Article 7 of Directive 2000/78, read in the light of the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
