The Stuttgart State Labor Court has made a ruling in a dispute over gender discrimination in pay – but the case could soon also concern the Federal Labor Court. The lawsuit brought by a female manager at Daimler Truck was only partially successful in the second instance, as the state labor court announced. According to the Society for Freedom Rights (GFF), which is supporting the plaintiff in court, the employee now wants to file an appeal. The labor court had further upheld the complaint in the first instance.
Gender-based discrimination?
The third-level employee had gone to court to demand the same remuneration as that of a male colleague at the same level. According to court information, his salary is above the median of the male comparison group. Meanwhile, the plaintiff’s salary is below the female comparison group. The board argued that there were therefore insufficient reasons to believe that the entire difference between the plaintiff’s salary and that of the aforementioned colleague was based on gender-related discrimination.
According to the court, the woman is therefore not entitled to an adjustment “upwards”, but only to the amount of the difference between the median salaries of the male and female comparison groups. The employee was therefore awarded 130,000 of the 420,000 euros she demanded for five years. The State Labor Court allowed the appeal to Germany’s highest labor judges because of the fundamental importance of the matter.
GFF: Judgment throws BAG case law “overboard”
The GFF is now relying on Germany’s highest labor judges. The case law of the Federal Labor Court is clear. Accordingly, pay discrimination is suspected if the salary deviates from the median of the male comparison group or from the salary of a specific colleague. “Then the employer has to prove that there are objective reasons for this that have nothing to do with gender. The judge at the State Labor Court is completely overturning this highest court case law,” the association explained.
In response to the state labor court’s ruling, Daimler Truck said that there was no structural gender-specific discrimination against collectively agreed and non-tariff employees in the company. The company also wants to examine the judgment and “evaluate an appeal as a legal option”.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:241001-930-249205/1
The Stuttgart State Labor Court has made a ruling in a dispute over gender discrimination in pay – but the case could soon also concern the Federal Labor Court. The lawsuit brought by a female manager at Daimler Truck was only partially successful in the second instance, as the state labor court announced. According to the Society for Freedom Rights (GFF), which is supporting the plaintiff in court, the employee now wants to file an appeal. The labor court had further upheld the complaint in the first instance.
