Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) 28 January 1992

In Case C-332/90, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by Arbeitsgericht (Labour Court) Elmshorn for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT (Second Chamber), composed of: F. A. Schockweiler, President of the Chamber, G. F. Mancini and J. L. Murray, Judges, Advocate General: M. Darmon, Registrar: J. A. Pompe, Deputy Registrar,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of: Mr Steen, by Werner Schulte and Rüdiger Paulsen, and by Brigitta Zwolski, respectively Bezirksvorsitzender, Secretary and Assessorin in the Deutsche Postgewerkschaft, Bezirksverwaltung, Schleswig-Holstein, the Deutsche Bundespost, by Franz Dolleschel, Postoberrat, Oberpostdirektion, Kiel, the Federal Republic of Germany, by Ernst Roder and Joachim Karl, Regierungsdirektor and Oberregierungsrat in the Ministry for the Economy, respectively, acting as Agents, the Commission of the European Communities, by Götz zur Hausen, Legal Adviser, acting as Agent,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Mr Steen, represented by Reinhard Mendel, Rechtsanwalt, Hamburg, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Commission, at the hearing on 22 October 1991,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 5 November 1991,

gives the following

Judgment

Costs

1 Language of ihr case: German.