Overview
- The Federal Constitutional Court overturned the Bundesarbeitsgericht’s 2018 judgment in the Egenberger case and sent the matter back to Erfurt for reassessment.
- Judges affirmed that church employers may demand membership for particular posts if they present a plausible, coherent, and proportionate link to the job’s duties.
- Civil courts retain authority to review churches’ justifications under proportionality standards and to reject blanket or contradictory criteria.
- The decision recalibrates earlier guidance from the EuGH and the BAG, which had barred general membership requirements and yielded an award of about €3,900 to the applicant in 2018.
- Churches and the Diakonie welcomed the clarification, noting alignment with 2024 rules limiting membership demands to roles central to ecclesial identity, a shift affecting roughly 1.8 million church-related jobs.