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Cardinal Woelki: His ex-justice officer was fired because she took her office chair home
Photo: R4179 Christoph Hardt/Geisler-Fotopress / picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress
The Archdiocese of Cologne has to accept a legal defeat in the case of a back-friendly office chair.
The labor court in Cologne ruled on Tuesday that the diocese should not have fired Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki's former legal counsel because she took her office chair home to work from home.
The court found the dismissal invalid.
No compensation for the legal counsel
The reasoning of the court: The non-agreed taking of the employer's property home constitutes a breach of duty. In the situation at the time - shortly after the outbreak of the corona pandemic - that was not enough to justify an extraordinary termination. At that time, the archdiocese gave priority to working from home. However, the necessary equipment was not made available at such short notice.
In the opinion of the chamber, however, the woman was not entitled to compensation for pain and suffering.
The former employee had demanded at least 50,000 euros for "insufficient training and supervision" in connection with the processing of abuse cases in the archdiocese, which she had been entrusted with.
The archdiocese had not fulfilled its duty of care as an employer, she argued.
According to her lawyer, the woman suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of working on the cases.
Court: Justiciar could have asked for support herself
At that time, the legal adviser headed the legal department of the archdiocese and was probably significantly involved in the commissioning of the Munich law firm Westphal Spilker Wastl (WSW) with the archdiocese's first abuse report. According to the court, the processing of the abuse cases was necessary. In the opinion of the chamber, the associated burdens for the employees of the Archdiocese were "unavoidable". The legal advisor could be expected to ask the archdiocese for the necessary support.
The legal adviser had sued in the proceedings against the termination of her employment.
The woman had worked for the archdiocese since 2008.
In July last year, the head of the legal department was fired because of the office chair.
She was also retired on the grounds that she was permanently unable to work.
She took legal action against it.
According to media reports, the relationship between the diocese leadership under Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and the Justiciar has been broken for some time.
An appeal can be lodged against the judgment at the regional labor court in Cologne.
has/dpa
