Loyalitätsobliegenheiten und Grundrechte

This thesis analyses dismissals of church employees from a European perspective. Based on ECHR and EU law, the author develops an approach that balances the right of self-determination of religious communities with the fundamental rights of employees. At the heart of this approach sits the function of the employee in the employer’s religious sending. Against this background, the German Constitutional Court’s case law is challenged. It fails to strike a fair balance between the conflicting constitutional interests. Moreover, it structurally fosters discrimination, undercuts the minimum level of human rights protection and offers inadequate solutions for labour standards in religious communities in times of a religiously pluralised society.
Awarded with the Bayreuther Dissertation Prize for European Labour Law 2021 and the Küttner Graduation Prize 2022 of the Faculty of Law of the University of Köln.