In its ruling dated February 25, 2016 (Ref.: 2 Ga 6/16), the Aachen Labour Court commented in detail on the issue of violations of personality rights among employees.
Every employee is obliged to refrain from doing anything that violates the personal rights of their colleagues.
The court thus follows established case law.

Violation of personality rights by press release

The case to be decided by the Aachen Labor Court involved a press release issued by a soccer club.
In this press release written by an employee, a board member was confronted with unprovable factual allegations in a manner that violated his personal rights.

Jurisdiction of the labor court

The Aachen Labor Court established its jurisdiction with reference to a decision of the Federal Labor Court (BAG decision of May 24, 1996 – AZRB 35/95).
Legal recourse to the labor courts is also open if an employee of a legal entity sues its managing director for tort (§ 2 para. 1 no. 3 d) ArbGG analogously).

The right to privacy also applies in the employment relationship

According to the Labor Court, the general right of personality under Art. 2 para.
1 GG and Art. 1 para.
1 GG must be observed in private legal transactions and therefore also in the employment relationship.
Every employee is therefore obliged to refrain from violating the personal rights of other employees.
In the event of a violation, every employee has a claim under Sections 862 and 1004 of the German Civil Code (BGB) to the removal of the continuing impairments and to refrain from further violations.

Insult constitutes a violation of personality rights

In the case in question, the employee stated in a press release that a member of the Executive Board had known about sexual assaults on protégés by a former trainer.
According to the press release, the board member allegedly referred to the trainer as a “dirty little Belgian” in a conversation.

The employee’s statement in the press release suggests that the board members want to sweep the grievances within the association under the carpet instead of providing clarification and remedial action.

According to the Aachen Labor Court, this indirect accusation constitutes an infringement of personality rights by the employee which must be refrained from.

The relevance of the general right of personality

With this decision, the Aachen Labor Court follows the prevailing case law.
It once again makes it clear that the general right of personality must be taken into account in all situations and that it is becoming increasingly important.
Moreover, it offers comprehensive protection against infringements and must therefore necessarily also apply in the relationship between employees.