The district court of Ingolstadt has dismissed a lawsuit against a guideline for gender-fair language at Audi AG. An employee of the parent company VW, who has to work with Audi colleagues, had sued the Ingolstadt car manufacturer for an injunction. He was bothered by the fact that the Audi employees used gender forms with an underscore ("employees") when communicating with him because of the guidelines.
As the civil chamber decided on Friday, the plaintiff has no right to injunctive relief. The presiding judge Christoph Hellerbrand emphasized that the VW employee is not obliged to actively use the guide because it is only aimed at Audi employees.
The plaintiff announced that he now wants to review the verdict with his lawyers. "I explicitly do not rule out that there are further steps," he said of possible legal remedies.
