Judgment_paragraph 25 · Joan Gillespie and others v Northern Health and Social Services Boards, Department of Health and Social Services, Eastern Health and Social Services Board and Southern Health and Social Services Board (C-342/93)

25In the light of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the four questions referred by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland must be that the principle of equal pay laid down in Article 119 of the Treaty and set out in detail in Directive 75/117 neither requires that women should continue to receive full pay during maternity leave, nor lays down specific criteria for determining the amount of benefit payable to them during that period, provided that the amount is not set so low as to jeopardize the purpose of maternity leave. However, to the extent that it is calculated on the basis of pay received by a woman before the commencement of maternity leave, the amount of benefit must include pay rises awarded between the beginning of the period covered by reference pay and the end of maternity leave, as from the date on which they take effect.