The ECJ has handed down two decisions dealing with the payments that must be made to women who, for reasons connected with health and safety during pregnancy, have their working conditions altered or are temporarily suspended. The cases concerned women whose jobs entitled them to supplementary allowances in addition to their basic salary. The implications (if any) of these decisions for other types of employee are hard to judge.

In Gassmayr v Bundesminister fur Wissenschaft und Forschung a pregnant nurse lost her on-call duty allowance when she was suspended on health grounds. In Parviainen v Finnair Oyj a pregnant air stewardess moved to ground duties lost part of her flight allowances but was still paid more than ground crew. The ECJ held that the Pregnant Workers Directive (92/85/EC) did not require the maintenance of previous levels of remuneration, and set down some fairly broad guidance as to how national courts should assess whether the payments or allowances granted to pregnant employees in such circumstances under national law are adequate.