Admissibility of declaratory claim for BAT age-level pay

The Federal Labour Court partially reversed the appellate decision in favor of the defendant employer, dismissing the plaintiff’s appeal as inadmissible with respect to the claim for a declaration that the employer was obligated to pay basic remuneration under pay group IIa, Level 1 of the Collective Agreements for Public Service Employees (BAT), at the highest age level, for the period from June 1, 2008, to December 31, 2009, thereby upholding the lower court’s ruling on this specific relief. The dispute concerned a public-sector employee’s claim to reclassification and payment of back wages based on seniority and age-based pay increments under the BAT framework. The decisive legal issue was the procedural admissibility of seeking a declaratory judgment for a specific pay calculation period following a prior assessment, with the court ruling that the specific declaratory request for future or ongoing remuneration for the stated past period was procedurally barred, leaving the defendant’s position on that specific obligation intact.