ABSTRACT

Von Colson and Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Case 14/83 and Harz v Deutsche Tradax GmbH Case 79/83 VC was rejected when she applied to work in the prison service and H was rejected when she applied to work in a private company. They both brought actions in the German courts on the grounds that their rejection was based on their sex. The German court found in their favour, but limited the award of damages to their travelling expenses to and from the interviews. Both women argued that these damages contravened the Equal Treatment Directive 76/207/EEC, which requires Member States to enable persons claiming a breach of the equality principle to pursue their claims through the judicial process. H was seeking to enforce the provisions of the Directive against a private company and not the State.