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Courthouse in Munich
Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa
The dispute over gender-appropriate language at Audi continues and goes to the next instance: The car manufacturer, which belongs to the Volkswagen Group, requires its employees to use specific gender forms in written communication.
A Volkswagen process manager sued against this, but was defeated by the Ingolstadt district court and has now appealed the verdict.
"The procedure has been received here and bears the file number 21 U 5235/22," said the Munich Higher Regional Court.
The plaintiff's lawyer initially did not comment.
The plaintiff feels that his personal rights have been violated by formulations such as "The BSM expert is a qualified technical expert".
The district court of Ingolstadt did not agree.
There is no right for him "to be left alone"
The presiding judge Christoph Hellerbrand had emphasized that the VW employee was not obliged to actively use the guide because it was only aimed at Audi employees.
Even the fact that the plaintiff was passively affected was not enough for the court.
He had no right "to be left alone," said Hellerbrand.
Audi sees the language requirements as a sign of equality and an expression of gender diversity.
kha/dpa