Dismissal of a Catholic doctor from a managerial position by a Catholic hospital due to his remarriage after a divorce may constitute unlawful discrimination on grounds of religion, said the European Court of Justice in a ruling on Tuesday 11 September (Case C-68/17).
J.Q., a Roman Catholic, worked as Head of the Internal Medicine Department of a hospital managed by IR, a limited company established under German law and subject to the supervision of the Archbishop of Cologne (Germany). When IR discovered that, after his divorce from his first wife, to whom he had been married in accordance with the Roman Catholic rite, JQ had married again in a civil ceremony without his first marriage having been annulled, IR dismissed him, referring to the Basic Regulations on employment relationships in the service of the Church (GrO 1993).
J.Q. challenged the dismissal in the German legal system, considering that his remarriage was not a viable reason for dismissal in terms of the principle of equal treatment: under GrO 1993, remarriage of a head of service who is protestant or without a religion would have not led to any consequences, he argued.
In the ruling, based on the conclusions of the advocate general (see EUROPE 12031), the European Court of Justice comes to in favour of the plaintiff. It says that the case in question must be subject an effective jurisdictional control in line with established jurisprudence (Case C-414/16, see EUROPE 12003).
During such a control, the national court dealing with the case must ensure that in terms of the nature of the professional work concerned or the context in which it is carried out, religion or beliefs are a professional domain that is ‘essential, legitimate and justified’ in terms of IR’s ethics.
While it is for the German federal labour law to determine whether these conditions are met, the ECJ sys that believing in the concept of marriage recommended by the Catholic Church does not seem to be necessary for affirming IR’s ethics due to the importance of the professional activities carried out by J.Q.
Such a belief in IR’s ethics does not therefore seem to be an essential conduit of professional work. Similar posts in the hospital have been given to people who are not Catholic and are not subject to the same demand of loyalty to IR’s ethics.
The ECJ therefore notes that the demand in question does not seem to be justified, although the German court will have to verify whether there is a likely and serious risk to IR’s ethics or its right to autonomy. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)