Opinions differ on the subject of gender-appropriate language – now the Ingolstadt district court has to make a judgment. A VW manager is suing against emails and work orders with gender gaps from the “Audianer_Innen”. The case is also legally complicated.
In the dispute between a VW employee and the subsidiary Audi about gender language in the company, the Ingolstadt company rejected a compromise. Removing the underscores from all emails, including attachments and presentations, is not practicable, Audi lawyers said on Tuesday in the trial before the Ingolstadt district court.
An employee of the parent company Volkswagen, who has to work with Audi colleagues, had complained after the company did not want to issue a cease-and-desist declaration. The plaintiff sees his general personal rights violated by the guidelines (Az. 83 O 1394/21). In the court, the plaintiff quoted from work instructions with formulations such as: “The BSM expert is a qualified technical expert”. For an amicable settlement, the presiding judge suggested that Audi could “just write to him normally” in the future.
The court intends to announce the verdict on July 29. Judge Christoph Hellerbrand made it clear that it would not be a fundamental judgment. This process is only about the specific individual case: “It’s about you, about your personal concern through this gender guide,” he told the VW process manager.
Audi introduced the guide in March 2021 and stated that the company wanted to “make gender-sensitive formulations ubiquitous in internal and external written Audi communication from now on”. Company lawyer Sebastian Klaus said the aim was to prevent discrimination. No person who does not clearly see themselves as a woman or man must reveal themselves and should still feel addressed and respected with the help of the gender gaps. Audi consulted experts when creating the guide.
Plaintiff’s attorney Dirk Giesen picked this up immediately: “You didn’t say: Experts!” His client was clearly in favor of equal rights and against discrimination. But “he wants to be left alone with this gender language”. The use prescribed in the guide leads to new discrimination and violates his personal rights. Audi should be obliged to stop sending him emails, email attachments and presentations with gender gaps – and pay 100,000 euros for violations.
The presiding judge summarized the request for an injunction as follows: “The gender gap must go.” At the same time, he pointed out that the plaintiff’s attorneys had not cited the work instructions cited in the previous pleadings, which may be a little late.
The lawsuit is supported by the German Language Association, which rejects gender as patronizing and ideology. The Society for the German Language sees double entries (“students”) positively, but the gender gap as problematic: language must be understandable and readable and comply with the grammar rules. Formulations such as “every colleague”, “said the student and his/her parents” or “farmer and doctor” were not appropriate to.
