Lidl discounter in the hot seat again. In early April, several hundreds of listings and forms belonging to Lidl were found in a trash can near a gas station in Bochum. Part of these documents was in fact reports on the health and declared illnesses of employees of the discounter with notes from their superiors such as “Wants to get pregnant. Impregnation failed” or even “Reason for absence: psychologist. Dismissal July 21, 2008.” German law doesn’t prevent employers from discussing health status with their employees. On the contrary, it forbids written reports without the employees’ written consent. Likewise, employees are not obliged to give the medical reason of a sick leave. Aggravating fact for Lidl, most of the notes found were written in 2008, after the illegal videosurveillance in 500 of its 2,700 subsidiaries was made public. Lidl said the information collected was used to find better posts for their employees! It’s as if the company, which had to break up its surveillance system and pay a €1.5 million fine, didn’t learn much from its past mistakes. This time, Lidl nevertheless acted faster. Frank-Michael Mros, leader of Lidl Germany, was immediately laid off and the company promised to help shed light on these practices, which it claims to have abandoned since the beginning of 2009.
their employees. On the contrary, it forbids written reports without the employees’ written consent. Likewise, employees are not obliged to give the medical reason of a sick leave. Aggravating fact for Lidl, most of the notes found were written in 2008, after the illegal videosurveillance in 500 of its 2,700 subsidiaries was made public.
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