The “Ossi Case”
The so-called Stuttgart “Ossi case”, or “Easterner case” has triggered media interest of a level rarely seen before. Owing to this extensive coverage, we feel justified in commenting here on what is an ongoing legal action which we are managing for our client, the employer.
The verdict of the Stuttgart labour court of 15/04/2010 (17 Ca 8907/09) was met throughout Germany with headlines such as “East Germans are not an ethnic group”.
However, the press did not always give a clear picture of what was involved. This is particularly true for the lawyers’ perspective:
From this point of view, the case was predominantly about a medium-sized Stuttgart firm who, as their director continues to stress, had no desire to discriminate against anyone. For the company and its employees however, it has been a nightmare. While the owner was on holiday in summer of 2009, a company trainee returned an unsuccessful job applicant’s documents to her. On the CV, a minus sign was circled with the word “Ossi”, or “East German”, next to it. When the owner returned from holiday, the applicant was adamant: she felt discriminated against because of her “ethnic origin” (Section 1 of the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (German Employment Equality Act), and demanded several thousand euros in compensation. As a result of the subsequent press campaign – initiated to a great extent by the claimant – the company remains in danger of substantially losing business.
We are called in as troubleshooters in cases like this. After all attempted settlements proved fruitless, there was no option but to take the matter to court:
The company explained that all clearly unsuitable candidates were initially given a “minus”. Applications were then examined a second time and a handwritten comment was added to any individual documents which were, in the end, deemed somehow merited.
In this case the word “Ossi” was added here as it was something the company viewed positively. Indeed, the managing director explained that, if anything, he was actually prejudiced in favour of “Ossis” from personal experience: “They are good at their job, are always on time and never ill” – although, by that time, everyone had unfortunately stopped listening to him.
In legal terms, the case is significant simply because it tests the boundaries of the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG). Since this law came into force, there has been dispute over how certain regional designations of origin should be treated. However, the regions people had in mind were more along the lines of Bavaria and East Frisia than the “Ossi/Wessi” (East/West German) debate. Nevertheless, the literature is clear that “Ossis” do not constitute an ethic group within the meaning of the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz. In a case surrounded by media controversy, the Stuttgart labour court was faced with the task of determining which groups could claim protection under the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz and correctly concluded that people from the former East Germany cannot seriously be considered an “ethnic group”.
The case sparked an East/West debate in German society. Thankfully, the idea of dividing Germany into two ethnic groups 20 years after reunification has been overwhelmingly rejected. The plaintiff has since obtained funding for the case from a popular magazine and has lodged an appeal.
Situations sometimes arise in which people like our client have no option but to place their trust in their lawyers and the good judgment of the courts.
General topics relating to labour law are regularly discussed by Wolf J. Reuter, who represented the case in court, in his internet blog.