Europe's top court backs gay partner pension rights

The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice ruled on Apr. 1 that if a company offers pension benefits to the married partners of workers it must also offer the same benefits to same-sex partners. The case involved Tadao Maruko, a 65-year-old German who was turned down when he applied for spousal benefits from the company his deceased partner had worked for. The fund administering the pension said that because the couple were not married Maruko could not be considered. For three years Maruko has fought the case. He lost in a German lower court and the appeals court referred the case to the EU tribunal asking the judges to determine if domestic partnerships should be equated with marriage and if the pension fund had discriminated. Germany allows some rights to same-sex couples but does not have either marriage or civil partnerships. "The refusal to grant the survivor's pension to life partners constitutes direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation if surviving spouses and surviving life partners are in a comparable situation as regards that pension,'' the courts said on Apr. 1 in its written ruling. Decision returns the case to German judges to decide the status of the pension. The ruling also sets a benchmark for companies and governments throughout the European Union which offer any recognition of gay couples. The International Lesbian and Gay Association - Europe argued the case before the tribunal. "We welcome today's ruling of the European Court of Justice and its strong wording which unequivocally stated that 'refusal to grant the survivor's pension to life partners constitutes direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation' and therefore it cannot be justified in any circumstance," said Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe. But Prediville said that at the same time ILGA-Europe is concerned that the decision does not have immediate legal consequences for same-sex partners in those EU countries that do not yet recognize same-sex unions. "This creates a discriminatory two-tier level of protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender EU nationals who are divided into two categories as their access to survivor pension rights depends on their country of residence."