The Regional Labor Court of Hamburg (Landesarbeitsgericht (LAG)) (Ref. Nos. 1 SLa 18/25 and 1 SLa 19/25) has declared invalid two written warnings and an extraordinary termination issued against a radiation protection officer. The employee had refused to comply with her manager’s direction to revise a radiation protection instruction she had drafted, incorporating gender-sensitive language throughout and including a specific clarification at one point in the document. Contrary to what one might initially assume, the invalidity did not turn on the gender-sensitive language requirement itself, but rather on a more fundamental question: whether the employee was under any obligation to make such amendments in the first place—entirely independent of the gender-inclusivity issue.

Quick Hits

• The Regional Labor Court of Hamburg’s ruling in a case involving the termination of a radiation protection officer underscores the importance of verifying an employee’s scope of duties before assigning the employee a task.
• Only the failure to comply with directions that fall within an employee’s area of responsibility can give rise to consequences under employment law, such as written warnings and, where applicable, termination.

The Facts—Dispute Over Gender-Neutral Radiation Protection Instruction

The employee is a qualified chemist employed by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH)), where she had been appointed as a...

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