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… OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL LÉGER delivered on 14 September 1999 (1) (Provisional text) Case C-78/98 Shirley Preston and Others v Wolverhampton Healthcare NHS Trust and Others Dorothy Fletcher and Others v Midland Bank plc (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the House of Lords) (Equal pay for male and female workers - Membership of an occupational pension scheme - Part-time workers - Excluded - Remedies - National procedural rules - of - of ) 1. …

… They are during holiday or periods when the person concerned is not teaching. 122. According to the order for reference, (83) a series of contracts of a teacher may, in certain cases, be covered by an 'umbrella‘ contract. Under such a contract, the teacher and the establishment concerned are under an obligation to renew their various contracts of employment. The parties thus set up a permanent employment relationship. …

… First, by virtue of the ' of ‘, procedural rules governing actions enabling individuals to exercise rights conferred by the Community legal order may not be less favourable than those governing similar actions of a domestic nature. 41. Second, by virtue of the 'principle of effectiveness‘, the procedural rules governing domestic actions may not be such as to render virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by the Community legal order. …

… so framed as to make it virtually impossible or excessively difficult to obtainreparation ( of ). 28. …

… The nationalcourt states in that connection that pursuant to Article 2(7) of the LegislativeDecree, an action for reparation must be brought within a of 12months running from the date of entry into force of the Legislative Decree,whereas an action for reparation under Article 2043 of the Civil Code is subject toa prescription period of five years under Article 2947 of the Civil Code, which maybe , in particular by extra-judicial acts, and suspended, pursuant toArticles …

… Lastly, it follows from consistent case-law since Francovich I, cited above, atparagraphs 41 to 43, that subject to the foregoing, it is on the basis of the rules ofnational law on liability that the State must make reparation for the consequencesof the loss or damage caused; further, the conditions, in particular time-limits, forreparation of loss or damage laid down by national law must not be less favourablethan those relating to similar domestic claims ( of ) and mustnot be …