Madam, - In your edition of October 4th, Jamie Smyth describes the judgment of the European Court of Justice in the Cadman case as a "landmark" decision that turns back decades of legal progress on equal pay for men and women.
This is not the true position. Ms Cadman was attempting to overturn two judgments of the European Court in 1989 (Danfoss) and 1991 (Nimz) that allow an employer to show that length of service may be an acceptable justification to deny an equal pay claim.
The judgment this week simply upheld the existing case law and did not change it. Cadman is therefore not a landmark case; it is simply a continuation of the existing jurisprudence.
The Cadman case did not even earn a press release from the ECJ as is usual when an interesting judgment is released. Perhaps the court was wrong. Perhaps it was right. That is a matter of opinion. But it is misleading to give the impression that this case changed the law. - Yours, etc,
CIARAN O'MARA, St Helen's Road, Booterstown, Co Dublin.