Lessons Learned and emerging Issues

Gabriele Habermann-Beltermann was a German nurse who specialized in the residential care of the elderly. In March 1992, she was hired as a night attendant in a retirement home by the German organization Arbeiterwohlfahrt, subsequently signing a contract, which clearly stipulated she was solely assigned to the night shift. A month after her hiring, she was absent from her job due to an illness from April 29 through June 12; her medical justification noted that she became pregnant two weeks before signing her employment contract. The parties stipulated that neither Habermann-Beltermann nor her employer were aware of the pregnancy at the time the contract was signed. According to German law, pregnant and breastfeeding women cannot be assigned overtime or work scheduled between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Arbeiterwohlfahrt went to German court to seek to have the contract nullified based on a German law that allows contracts to be rendered void when an employer signs a contract that they would not have signed if the employer had known about “an essential characteristic of the other party to the contract.” Habermann-Beltermann challenged this interpretation of German law as violating the principle of equal treatment guaranteed by the European Union (EU). This Council of Justice Directive 76/207/EEC requires equal treatment for men and women regarding employment access, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions.