Terminations in pregnant women with justification

Terminations of pregnant women must contain written notice of termination

11/21/2011

Although not only the policy of the importance of reconciling work and family is repeatedly put forward, apparently still employers try to get rid of women immediately after becoming aware of a pregnancy. But pregnant women fall under the protection of the Maternity Protection Act and therefore the employer must in the case of termination in each case provide a written justification for why those affected should still be fired, according to a recent decision of the Labor Court in Nuremberg (AZ: 8 Ca 2123/09 ). If the written reasons for termination are not attached, they will lose their validity, the judges decided.

Notice of termination must be included in pregnant women in the notice of termination
In the current case, the employer had given notice of termination to a pregnant colleague, citing no explicit reasons in the letter, but referring to other documents giving reasons for the dismissal. The court also argued in court that the reasons for dismissal had already been set out in detail during the administrative procedure and that the notice of termination merely stated that an operational, timely dismissal would take place. In the view of the Nuremberg Labor Court, however, the reasons for termination must be included in the notice of termination, a reference to other documents is not sufficient at this point. For example, dismissal and grounds for pregnant employees must be summarized in a uniform declaration in order to ensure that the reasons for dismissal can be legally verified with regard to the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG). According to the current verdict, the written form is not preserved if the termination and the reasoning are contained in two separate statements. Such termination is therefore ineffective, said the judges of the Labor Court and thus confirmed the position of the plaintiff.

Maternity Protection Act prevents dismissals of pregnant women relatively far
In terms of pregnant employees, the current verdict is a clear success, because it is guaranteed that the grounds for a possible termination must be in writing in each case and thus legally verifiable. Moreover, as the Maternity Protection Act provides relatively comprehensive protection against dismissal from the beginning of pregnancy up to four months after confinement, employers are likely to face considerable difficulties in providing written justification that nevertheless allows them to be dismissed. Exceptions that may allow such termination during pregnancy, for example, the insolvency of the operation or a particularly serious breach of duty of the employees. Pregnant women who feel that their employer just wants to get rid of them because of pregnancy, therefore, have the option to take appropriate dismissals in any case, even though they may personally no longer wish to work for a company with such a hostile attitude in the future. (Fp)

Image: Michael Grabscheit