Discrimination against trade union members leads to compensation payment

At a glance

• The Supreme Court ruled that it constitutes discrimination against employees working in trade unions if the non-organised employees, during a trade union overtime ban, are allowed to work overtime as contract work with additional compensation.
• The employer had provided an additional benefit to its employees who had agreed to work overtime during the trade union's overtime.
• By its conduct, the employer had discriminated against the claimants on the basis of their trade union activities.
• The Court held that the employer was liable to pay them compensation under the Non-Discrimination Act.

The claimants were members of a trade union which had declared a ban on overtime for a certain period. During the overtime ban, the claimants’ employer had offered some of its non-organised employees the opportunity to work overtime on weekends as contract work. The compensation for the contract work contained not only the calculated hourly wage and overtime pay but also Sunday work compensation and weekly rest compensation, even though the overtime was not performed on Sundays.

In its ruling of 5 July 2024, the Supreme Court held that the employer had provided an additional benefit to its employees who had agreed to work overtime during the trade union's overtime ban. By its conduct, the employer had discriminated against the claimants on the basis of their trade union activities and was therefore liable to pay them compensation under the Non-Discrimination Act.