Can a church institution select applicants based on their denomination?

Church institutions are allowed to reject applicants based on their denomination. However, only if there is a justified professional requirement for it. What exactly this can include is also made clear by a recent ruling by the Federal Labor Court (BAG). Here the Diakonie was allowed to reject the candidate Vera Egenberger because the advertised position contained externally representative tasks. The case had previously been processed by a wide variety of courts – including the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – for around 14 years.

Canon law: The Egenberger case in detail

On November 29, 2012, the plaintiff applied for a speaker position advertised by Diakonie. This position should be limited to two years. The advertisement at the time stated: “We require membership in a Protestant church or a church belonging to the ACK and identification with the diaconal mission. Please indicate your denomination in your CV.” At that time, Egenberger was rejected without an interview and saw the reason for this as being non-denominational. The position was ultimately filled by a Protestant applicant. According to Egenberger, he is said to have had fewer professional qualifications, as she told the Tagesschau.

To this day, however, the Diakonie denies that it has discriminated against them because of this. Furthermore, she refers to Section 9 Paragraph 1 AGG, which would have justified discrimination in the Egenberger case. This right to self-determination allows churches and the institutions associated with them to treat applicants differently based on religion – for example by only awarding a position to church members. However, this is only permissible if church affiliation represents an essential professional requirement with regard to the specific activity or the way it is carried out and this requirement also serves a legitimate purpose and is objectively justified.

However, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided that it should be possible to have such personnel decisions examined by the German courts if possible discrimination is involved. Accordingly, religious institutions cannot reject applicants across the board based on religious affiliation. Rather, the advertised activity must justify the need for religious affiliation.

After the Federal Labor Court (BAG) awarded Egenberger a compensation payment of two months’ salary, Diakonie also filed a lawsuit with the state labor court. To this day, it remains unclear whether this specifically advertised position justified religious affiliation as an employment criterion and has gone through various legal instances. The case was last before the Federal Constitutional Court in September 2025, where it was decided that the BAG ruling from October 2025 was overturned. The case then went back to the BAG, where a new decision had to be made.

The lawsuit ultimately failed before the Federal Labor Court

Now the eighth Senate of the BAG has met again to negotiate the Egenberger case against Diakonie. The verdict was much in favor of the defendant. The latter is not obliged to pay the plaintiff any compensation in accordance with Section 15 Paragraph 2 AGG.

The defendant therefore did not unfairly discriminate against the plaintiff because of her religion. It was also noted that the religious affiliation required for the advertised job exceptionally justified discrimination in accordance with Section 9 Paragraph 1 Alt. 2 AGG. Unlike its 2018 ruling, this time the court decided after careful consideration: For this specific position, the employer was allowed to require that the applicant be a member of the church. The main reason for this decision was that the job description included the task of representing the employer externally. In the context of this representative task, the court considers the requirement for church affiliation to be justified here.

Tonia Schöler is a volunteer at Human Resources.