Retirement Age in the Public Sector Decision no. 84-179 DC of September 19, 1984, Rec. 73.
Facts: a proposed new law provided that the members of the Collège de France and the Vice-President of the Conseil d'Etat (Higher administrative Court) would be able to retire later than other civil servants. This law was challenged on the ground that it discriminated against other civil servants.
Holding: the Constitutional Council upheld the law because it ruled that even though equal treatment between civil servants of the same category in their terms and conditions of employment was mandatory, it did not prevent different categories having different retiring ages according to the nature of their duties.
Reasoning: the Council may accept the legislator's decision to
accord different treatment on the condition that it is justified by
objective differences in the virtues and talents of the applicants. A degree
of reverse discrimination was thus accepted.
