Court rights of pregnant women strengthened

State Labor Court: Pregnant pregnancy representation does not have to say that she is pregnant

07/12/2012

In a ruling, the regional labor court in Cologne has strengthened the rights of a pregnant employee, who had even started a temporary job as a pregnancy substitute. The applicant did not inform the employer about her pregnancy before signing the employment contract. Only when the employment contract was signed did the person concerned inform the boss. Then the employee was dismissed.

The Regional Labor Court of Cologne ruled: There is no exception for pregnant women for fixed-term contracts. A woman who takes a temporary job as a pregnancy substitute does not have to say first that she is pregnant herself. The labor judges based their judgment on the anti-discrimination law. Accordingly, pregnancy should not in principle lead to discrimination based on sex. "Therefore, a pregnant woman does not need to disclose an existing pregnancy either on her own or on appropriate questions before concluding the employment contract," said the judges. „The question of pregnancy is basically considered to be direct discrimination on the grounds of sex in the sense of § 3 paragraph 1 sentence 2 AGG.“

A temporary employment contract is no exception. In the case being negotiated, a challenge to the employment contract by the employer due to an alleged deception is not effective. „For this reason, a pregnant woman does not have to reveal an existing pregnancy either on her own or before she has concluded the employment contract.“ This also applies, according to the case-law of the European Court of Justice (judgment of 4 October 2001 - C-109/00), if only a fixed-term employment contract is to be established and the applicant can not work during a substantial part of the contract period.

The case of a paralegal was negotiated. The expectant mother was banned from a law firm in January 2012 due to a „malicious deception“ dismiss. The employee complained against the challenge of the employment contract and was able to prevail in the first instance before the Labor Court.

However, it was unclear whether an exception would be made in cases of a permanent ban on employment due to pregnancy. Such a ban did not exist in the specific case. The plaintiff had worked until the challenge to the employer and was not subject to any prohibition of employment. (Landesarbeitsgericht Köln file number: 6 Sa 641/12)

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