Church employer: employee rights and salary

Is God’s Blessing Enough? Church employers sometimes have completely different rules than secular companies. Catholic institutions in particular can prescribe things for their employees that would be impossible for secular companies. And these prerogatives of the churches have been repeatedly confirmed as a right of self-determination by the Federal Constitutional Court. Particularly noteworthy: A violation of Catholic customs can lead to dismissal. Here, the "wrong" sexual orientation is a sufficient reason for dismissal. However, there is now some relaxation in the church’s personnel policy.

Church companies – the somewhat different employers

Around 1.3 million people in Germany are employed by church institutions, which make it the second largest employer in the country after the civil service. The approximately 50,000 church companies have a wide variety of jobs and occupations, from educators and caretakers to academic staff. Even IT professionals work for the churches.

Both the Roman Catholic and the Evangelical Church require a certain commitment, at least loyalty with Christian values, from their employees. Whether a baptismal certificate is required when hiring depends, among other things, on the position of the employee. Anyone who works with people is more likely to have to provide evidence of their religiosity than a technical staff member.

Interventions in private life – what is allowed?

In the past, there have been some sensational cases where the restrictions on employee rights have become clear. Although celibacy in the Catholic Church – the obligation of priests to be celibate – still affects a comparatively few people who have deliberately decided to pursue such a career, other regulations affect the private life of considerably more people. The churches have often responded to "misconduct" in off-duty behavior by giving notice. This includes re-marrying after a divorce, which violates Catholic guidelines, for example in the case of a chief physician at a church hospital in Düsseldorf in 2011. The Federal Labor Court still upheld his complaint, but the Federal Constitutional Court accepted the judgment and upheld the decision Termination due to violation of Catholic moral teaching.

Homosexual employees also have bad cards here as soon as they commit to their orientation. In Catholic teaching, homosexuality is against nature and opposes the ideal of the classic family. As long as sexual preference is hidden, the world of the church still seems in order. However, if an employee of a Catholic company is committed to homosexuality or even marries the same-sex partner, this can be regarded as misconduct by the employer and the employee can expect to be dismissed without notice. However, homosexuality is generally not a problem at Protestant institutions.

However, leaving the church can in any case be enough to put an employee in front of the door. The European Commission in Brussels sees these special regulations as a form of discrimination. The General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) has existed in Germany since 2006, but the churches continue to enjoy special rights. This seems almost bizarre, since the public sector pays for a large part of the church employees. Caritas and Diakonie, the charities of the Catholic and Protestant Church, take on social tasks on behalf of the state, for which tax money is used. The state, however, is careful not to interfere with the church’s right to self-determination.

Employee representation instead of works council, hardly any collective agreements, no right to strike

The special rights of denominational employers in Germany go even further. Church labor law knows no works council, instead you can employee choose so-called employee representatives. In contrast to the statutory works council, an employee representative body has significantly less enforceable rights and therefore remains a comparatively powerless instrument – regulations on working hours or the supervision of trainees are left out here.

When it comes to employment contract law, the churches use the so-called third way. Neither wages and salaries are set by the employer alone (first route) nor by collective agreements (second route), but rather negotiated jointly by committees of employers and employees. The third way is also to avoid strikes. Instead, you look for cooperative conflict resolution – in case of doubt, an arbitrator decides. There is therefore no right to strike in the strict sense for denominational institutions. Here, too, the Federal Constitutional Court confirmed the privileges of the churches and dismissed a corresponding complaint by the ver.di union as inadmissible. However, the willingness to sit down at a table together with union representatives has increased recently.

Church salaries

The lack of genuine collective bargaining agreements among church employers sometimes results in real wage disadvantages for employees. Although denominational associations are generally based on the collective agreements of the public service (TVöD), Diakonie Deutschland pays an average of ten percent less salary than specified in the TVöD. Even the German Caritas Association does not pay very well, especially for simple jobs. The Catholic Welfare Association recently broke away from the public service collective agreements regarding the payment of unskilled workers.

How well the ecclesiastical employer pays in relation to the public service – especially with Protestant institutions – can, however, depend heavily on the region and the financial possibilities of the respective regional church. In parts of Hesse, for example, three to eight percentage points more is paid than in TVöD, but significantly worse in Brandenburg. A positive aspect: Some church employers take over the contribution for the old-age provision completely, which has a positive effect on the net salary.

Outlook: Reforms in Church Labor Law

Not only the cooperation with unions, but also the outdated regulations regarding the private life of an employee loosen up somewhat in the churches. In the Catholic Church, openly homosexual employees are now less likely to be fired than a few years ago, and remarriage after a divorce is also increasingly being tolerated. Only if the private life was a "considerable annoyance in the service community" would this lead to a termination as a violation of loyalty.

Further reforms in church labor law are realistic in the near future. These seem to be absolutely necessary, because the strict rules for private life scare off a number of potential employees. But employee uncertainty remains. Hiding sexual identity for fear of disadvantage is a very stressful factor for employees of Catholic companies. It stands to be expected that the European Court of Justice will again comment on the special rights of the churches.

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Christina Cherry
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