Dismissal of a waste management officer – what does that have to do with us?

The Hamm Regional Labor Court had to decide a case in which the plaintiff had been appointed in writing as the company's waste management officer, in addition to his previous duties. The company's waste management officer was subsequently given notice of termination. However, the Regional Labor Court declared the termination invalid. The employer subsequently dismissed the company's waste management officer, which he contested with a lawsuit.
In its decision, the Regional Labor Court found that the law – in this specific case, the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act and the Federal Immission Control Act – merely contains a prohibition of discrimination with regard to the personal position of the waste management officer. Furthermore, the officer is protected from ordinary termination of his employment relationship insofar as a valid termination must be justified by good cause. At the same time, it can be inferred from this provision that dismissal as an officer is independent of whether such cause exists. The officer only enjoys continued protection against dismissal for a period of one year after his dismissal. In contrast to the company data protection officer, the prohibition of discrimination does not extend beyond this. Furthermore, the Regional Labor Court did not consider the dismissal of the plaintiff as waste management officer to be a violation of the prohibition of discrimination. In this specific case, the employer had wanted to terminate the employment relationship for operational reasons, so there were objective reasons for dismissing the plaintiff. Conclusion: Ordinary termination of the waste management officer is permissible. He or she must be recalled and can then be terminated subject to a one-year notice period.

The decision is also of interest to the biological safety officer, as the Genetic Engineering Act and the Genetic Engineering Safety Ordinance do not contain any further regulations regarding the appointment and dismissal of the biological safety officer. Therefore, the provisions of the Federal Immission Control Act regarding appointment and dismissal also apply to the biological safety officer, so that the principles of the Hamm Regional Labor Court's decision regarding the company waste management officer should also apply to the biological safety officer. This applies in any case when the biological safety officer is employed within the company, but not when appointed externally.

This publication can also be found on the website of the law firm Dr. Kauch .