Genuine Occupational Requirement in the German Fire Service: Case C-229/08, Colin Wolf v. Stadt Frankfurt am Main, judgement of the European Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 12 January 2010

Abstract

In 2000, the European Council used its competence under Article 13 EC Treaty and adopted Directive 2000/78/EC. This Directive provides a legal framework for combating discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. Since its adoption the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has received numerous preliminary referrals, mostly dealing with age discrimination. Within this context, the case of Colin Wolf is important because so far it is the only age discrimination case dealing with Article 4(1) of the Directive: the genuine occupation requirement (GOR) exception.