ECJ Advocate General’s opinion: age limit on recruiting firefighters is a genuine occupational requirement

8 September 2009

In the case 'Wolf v Stadt Frankfurt am Main' (C-229/08) the ECJ Advocate General has given the opinion that a German law restricting applications to join the fire service to those under the age of 30 could be justified as a legitimate employment policy under Art. 6(1) of the Equal Treatment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC. He also considered that the discriminatory policy could be defended as a genuine occupational requirement under Article 4(1) of the Directive.

The Advocate General considered that the discriminatory treatment could be justified by the need to establish a balanced age range within the workforce so as to maintain an operational service. The German government's evidence showed that the physical demands of the work involved meant that, in practice, hardly any firefighters past the age of 50 were still active in frontline fire and rescue work. The Advocate General therefore considered the age limit reasonable to ensure that there was a continuous supply of younger firefighters to replace those who had been moved on to less demanding duties.

The Advocate General took the view that, given the high level of physical ability required for the job, which naturally diminishes with age, it was a genuine occupational requirement that new recruits be under 30. Furthermore, it was proportionate to apply the requirement, in that it ensured that new recruits could give sufficiently long service on fire and rescue duties.

Source: ECJ 3/9/2009

Extract from an Library & Information Centre article

Further information

ECJ Advocate General's opinion -  'Wolf v Stadt Frankfurt am Main' (C-229/08) case (in French)

European Court of Justice (ECJ) website