QUESTIONS
PART A
Edson Kante runs Footytrix, a business, based in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, teaching football “tricks” to boys and girls to encourage a greater engagement in sport and physical activity amongst children. Edson came to see solicitor Hannah Marshall about an exciting new project which is due to take place in Latvia at the start of the next school year.
Footytrix employs several coaches in Ireland who specialise in teaching children these special skills and techniques (“tricks”), as fun ways of getting children involved in playing football, without needing to use football pitches or playing full games.
They also train local coaches to continue the work after Footytrix has left. Footytrix coaches have been going into schools in Ireland for two months at the start of the school year to set up the schemes, train local coaches, and teach the first two months of the scheme to the youngsters.
Footytrix charges the schools for providing this service.
Footytrix has been offered a contract to provide the same service to five schools in Latvia. Footytrix coaches will go to Latvia for two months at the start of the next school year. They will stay together in a rented house.
Edson said that all the coaches employed by Footytrix have football coaching qualifications awarded by the Football Association of Ireland and have many years of experience of coaching children in particular. A number of those hoping to go to Latvia are also fluent Latvian language speakers.
The contract is for next year only. The Latvian schools will decide if the project is a success before they commit to renew the contract.
Edson has been made aware of two Latvian laws that are causing the business problems.
The first law
This requires all those working in schools in Latvia to be able to show that they have worked in Latvia for three years. He has been told that the reason for this law is to ensure that those people have a thorough understanding of the issues affecting children in Latvia and are part of a drive to improve teaching standards across the country. None of Footytrix’s coaches have worked in Latvia for three years.
The second law
This requires all those wanting to teach football in any form in Latvia, to register with the Latvian Football Federation in advance, before they are authorised to begin. Edson is frustrated as it takes an average of two years for this process to be completed.
Hannah Marshall is meeting Edson again at the beginning of next week and would be grateful if you could write her a Memorandum, letting her have your views on the legal position.
In your Memorandum to Hannah Marshall you should:
Explain why the Services Directive applies to this situation.
Using the provisions of the Services Directive, explain, giving reasons for your answer, whether
Footytrix can challenge the restrictions to the services they wish to provide, caused by:
the first law; and
the second law
PART B
Edson Kante has three further issues he is wanting Hannah Marshall to help him with.
Issue 1
Footytrix has five administrators on the staff along with eleven coaches. Four of the administrators are women, one is a man. One of the coaches is a woman, ten are men. The administrators receive gym membership vouchers. One of the coaches, Arif Iqbal has complained that the coaches do not receive gym membership vouchers. Edson explains that they have had more health related absences amongst their administrators. Coaches are exercising throughout the day as part of their jobs and do not need the same added health support as the administrators, who have to spend a lot of their working day sitting at desks and focusing on screens. The rest of the pay is the same for administrators and coaches as their work is deemed to be of equal value.
Explain whether Footytrix is in breach of EU law by only giving the administrators gym membership vouchers. Give reasons for your answer.
Issue 2
It is important to the work of Footytrix that it encourages boys and girls alike to get involved with their schemes. Edson is therefore keen to have more female coaches on the staff, as they currently only have one woman out of eleven coaches. Footytrix is looking to employ two new coaches next month.
Explain whether EU law would allow Footytrix to advertise the jobs only to women, or to prefer women applicants over men at the next round of recruitment. Give reasons for your answer.
Issue 3
Grace Masters is now the longest serving coach employed by Footytrix. She has applied for a promotion to be senior coach at Footytrix. Edson thinks Grace is great at her job, but is not convinced that women command the same respect from colleagues in sport as men do.
Explain whether EU law would allow Footytrix to deny Grace a promotion on this basis. Give reasons for your answer.
For your answer to Part B you do not need to write a separate Memorandum to Hannah, but should continue your Memorandum from Part A. Simply include a new heading: Part B
In both Parts A and B, you should ensure that you correctly cite any relevant EU case law or legislation, using footnotes, where appropriate.
You are required to produce an answer to Parts A and B not exceeding 2000 words. We would normally expect that your answer to each part would not exceed 1000 words. You will not be penalised if your answer to either part exceeds these totals as long as your answer to both Parts A and B does not exceed 2000 words in total. However, any words over this total will not be marked.
(100 marks)
