The court reached its verdict on the Gabriela S. Ossi dispute on Thursday, saying that “East Germans could not be seen as a tribe-like group.” Gabriela S., born in the German Democratic Republic, was declined from a window manufacturing job and her application was returned with “Ossi” written across the front. Gabriela S. took the window manufacturing firm to court, but it was found that the woman was unqualified for the job, and that “Ossi” was mean to be a positive attribute. It was made known that there is more to ethnicity than merely region of origin, though tensions are still strong between the East and West. Read the full article here.
Agreeing with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a person’s origin of birth is as far out of his control as his gender, and thus if a company denies a job based on his region of origin than that company should expect to face legal backfire. Most labeling by those “on the other side” is offensive, and should not be used when assessing applications, be it used in a positive light or not. It is discriminatory, plain and simple.
