The Federal Labor Court (BAG) in Erfurt has decided that unequal treatment of applicants of retirement age is permissible. According to the ruling, this practice is compatible with the objective of a balanced distribution of employment between generations, reports “Spiegel”.
Despite his pension, the man worked as a teacher.
The case concerns a former music and philosophy teacher from North Rhine-Westphalia who reached the legal retirement age in early 2018 and has been retired since then. Despite his retirement, he worked for the country on several temporary occasions.
In December 2021 he applied again for a substitute position for the subjects of German and philosophy. However, according to “Spiegel”, the position went to a 30-year-old competitor with a combination of history and philosophy.
Pensioner demands compensation
The pensioner considered himself better qualified than his competitor and demanded compensation for age discrimination. The BAG judges considered age discrimination, but dismissed the lawsuit, the “Spiegel” continued.
“The legitimate objective is to improve the distribution of employment between generations by promoting the access of the youngest to employment,” the ruling states. This should allow younger applicants to gain professional experience and advance to higher salary groups.
Court bases its verdict on intergenerational justice
The BAG emphasized that this practice is part of intergenerational justice and ultimately serves society as a whole. Promoting younger applicants is an important means of ensuring a fairer distribution of employment opportunities across generations.
According to the court, this could not only justify discrimination at the time of initial recruitment, but also, as in the present case, the denial of reinstatement.
More than one in four complain about age discrimination
According to a recent survey, one in four current or former employees over the age of 50 have felt that they have been discriminated against in their working life because of their age. This is stated by around 28 percent in the survey commissioned by the professional network Xing. About 72 percent had not had this feeling and answered “probably not” or “no.”
The examples they cited were the assignment of tasks below their profile requirements, the restriction of their areas of activity or disadvantages in promotion.