Enti confessionali e licenziamento ideologico. Uno sguardo alla giurisprudenza della Corte di Strasburgo

The article provides an analysis of recent European Court of Human Rights’ legal cases about the ideological dismissal: Lombardi Vallauri v. Italy (2009), Obst v. Germany (2010), Schüth v. Germany (2010) and Siebenhaar v. Germany (2011). As the Directive 2000/78/EC within the EU context, these judgments state that, by virtue of the special nature of jobs where the employer is a religious entity, the employee is bound by a heightened duty of loyalty. This special bond of trust does not violate the Convention rights when the employee performs tasks that have a direct connection with the ethical aims pursued by the organization. However, it’s necessary to verify that neither the fundamental principles of domestic law nor the worker’s dignity are compromised by the required duties. Actually, the Court, on the one hand, protects the autonomy of Churches and religious organization, as well as the workers’ rights. On the other hand, it takes into account also the interests of third parties, in various way related to religious bodies, who are interested in maintaining the confessional identity of the latter (see Siebenhaar and the particular case of Fernandez Martinez v. Spain).