The European Court of Justice has held that EU Directives prohibiting sex and age discrimination cannot be relied upon by a person who makes an application for employment not with a view to obtaining the position but only with a view to claiming compensation for discrimination.
EU law could not be relied on for abusive or fraudulent ends. While it was for the national court to determine whether there had been abuse on the facts in the instant case, the ECJ confirmed that a situation in which a person applies for a position solely in order to claim discrimination might, if the requisite conditions under EU law were met, constitute an abuse of rights.