A Catholic organisation cannot simply dismiss an employee for leaving the church. The European Court of Justice ruled that such a dismissal is only justified if the requirement not to leave the church is “essential, lawful and justified”. In addition, the nature of the work and the ethos of the institution must be taken into account.
In the present case a consultant for the Catholic Pregnancy Counseling organisation in Germany left the Church. The organisation dismissed her, even though it also employs non‑Catholic staff. The Luxembourg judges decided that church membership could not be considered an essential requirement for the role of a pregnancy counsellor when the same workplace hires non‑Catholics for that position.
Now the German Federal Labour Court must decide whether the dismissal was lawful. The Court made clear that the Catholic pregnancy counselling body must show a probable and significant risk that its ethos or its right to autonomy would be impaired, before the requirement can be regarded as necessary and proportionate (Case C‑258/24).
