Equal treatment clarified

The European Court of Justice has said that self-employed workers are covered by equal treatment rights. It has also said that key conditions in a contract should be analysed one by one to see whether they offend principles of equal pay. The court has also said that budgetary conditions by themselves cannot justify sex discrimination in pay but measures to ensure the sound management of public expenditure can be justified if they meet a legitimate objective of social policy, are appropriate to attain that objective and are necessary to that end (Jorgensen v Foreningen af Speciallaeger, decision of 6 April 2000).