Cresco Investigation v Markus Achatzi [2019]

Under a provision of Austrian national law known as the ARG, Good Friday is a paid public holiday, entailing a 24-hour rest period for members of the Evangelical Churches of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions, the Old Catholic Church and the United Methodist Church (“the churches covered by the ARG”). If a member of one of those churches does nevertheless work on that day, he is entitled to additional pay in respect of that public holiday (‘public holiday pay’).

Mr Achatzi is an employee of Cresco, a private detective agency, and is not a member of any of the churches covered by the ARG. He claims that he suffered discrimination by being denied public holiday pay for the work he did on 3