The year-long dispute between a Catholic chief physician and his ecclesiastical employer is to be decided. The hospital would not be allowed to terminate his senior doctor, only because he had married after his divorce for a second Time. The rights of the Church, to be able to special demands on the private lives of employees are limited. the
A Catholic hospital must not dismiss his chief doctor, because he has married after his divorce again. The decision of the Federal labour court in Erfurt. The Church sees in the marriage of Catholics to a serious loyalty infringement. But that is not enough in this case, for a dismissal, saying the work of a judge: A valid marriage according to the Church’s self-understanding was not a justified occupational requirement for the doctor in charge.
the Decisive factor for the decision was the unequal treatment of Catholic and other employees. Such a second marriage would have been in accordance with the service contracts, a reason for termination for non-Catholic chief doctors of the clinic.
Thus spoke the highest German labour court judges is a principle of judgment: churches are not allowed to interfere in the future, so strong in the private lives of their employees. The constitutional right to self-determination decision-making gives them room for manoeuvre than other employers. How far this may extend, will be legally negotiated.
The specific case that had preoccupied the courts for years. The divorce and the second legal marriage of the doctor back are now more than ten years. While the labour courts gave the plaintiff doctors of law, strengthened the Federal constitutional court, the self-understanding of the churches. Finally, the European court of justice had a clear Position, and thus laid the basis for the decision. In the case of the trade-off between German constitutional law and European law, the German work chosen judges for the Latter.
