Dismissal due to Islamophobic WhatsApp messages

The Baden-Württemberg State Labour Court has ruled that a dismissal of a worker for massive insults and Islamophobic remarks in WhatsApp messages is lawful.

Key Facts

The Baden-Württemberg Higher Labor Court ruled that the dismissal of an employee was lawful due to massive insults.
The plaintiff had been employed by Daimler AG since 1996 and most recently worked at the Untertürkheim plant.
The termination without notice was due to Islamophobic comments and insults made by a Muslim colleague.
The plaintiff denied the allegations and described the messages as satirical.
The Stuttgart Labor Court dismissed the action on November 29, 2018; the plaintiff filed an appeal.
The LAG confirmed the validity of the dismissal and recognized the serious insults as grounds for dismissal.
The appeal to the Federal Labor Court was not allowed.

The severely disabled applicant has been employed by the applicant since 1996. He most recently worked at the Untertürkheim plant as a plant warden. On 4 June 2018, the defendant Daimler AG issued a notice of termination without notice. Daimler AG based the dismissal on massive insults by a Turkish colleague of the Muslim faith (including “ugly Turk”, “goat fucker”) and the sending of image files via WhatsApp with an Islamophobic background (among others, “We build a Muslim “).

The plaintiff denied the insults. The WhatsApp messages are satirical content. The applicant did not adopt its content as its own. An extraordinary dismissal was no longer admissible on 4 June 2018 because the defendant had delayed the investigation too much. The representatives of the severely disabled were also not properly consulted.

By judgment of 29 November 2018, the Labour Court in Stuttgart dismissed the action. The applicant has appealed against that judgment.

The Land Labour Court rejected the applicant’s appeal. The LAG also considered the termination to be effective. According to the Appeals Chamber, the WhatsApp messages sent to colleagues are already a reason for extraordinary dismissal. The contents of the WhatsApp messages are a massive insult to the work colleague of the Muslim faith. The content transmitted was inhumane and did not cover freedom of expression.

That also applies in the light of the applicant’s long service and serious disability. The dismissal was declared after proper consultation of the works council and the severely disabled representative within the time limit to be observed.

The appeal to the Federal Labour Court has not been allowed.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.