Success at a Cost: Ortega Ortega v. Spain and the Difficult Enforcement of the Principle of Equal Pay

The head of the finance department at a company, responsible for overseeing the payroll, discovered that she had been experiencing pay discrimination for years. Armed with this information, she took her case to the Spanish court. Although she won her equal pay case, she was dismissed for allegedly violating data protection regulations. In the case of Ortega Ortega v. Spain , the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) made its first ruling on an equal pay issue under Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). At the heart of this case is the need for effective protection against discrimination. By upholding her dismissal, the ECtHR determined that the Spanish authorities failed to fulfil their obligation to protect against discrimination. However, the Court did not specify how Spain should fulfil that obligation. The facts of Ortega Ortega v. Spain highlight the challenges individuals face when trying to enforce the prohibition against pay discrimination, underscoring the need for proactive measures. Although the Court did not mandate such measures, its ruling against Spain contributes to the broader effort to combat (pay) discrimination.