Serbian volleyball player Ana Živojinović filed a claim before the CEV Dispute Resolution Chamber against her former club Olympiacos for outstanding salary payments and bonuses. While the club initially refused to pay her due to the cancellation of the 2019/2020 sporting season, in the arbitration proceeding the club referred to a discriminatory contractual clause according to which it had the right to unilaterally terminate the contract if Ana would get pregnant. Due to Ana's pregnancy the club accused her of breaching the contract and thus refused to make any payment on the basis of the contract.

 

On 3 December 2021 the CEV Dispute Resolution Chamber issued an Award and concluded that a contractual provision which entitles a club to terminate a contract if a player becomes pregnant violates the general principles of justice and fairness and, in particular, the balances of duties and obligations, and thus, said clause could not be relied upon by the club to avoid abiding by the payment obligations. 

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Since Olympiacos has not respected the Award and paid Ana the outstanding salary payments and bonuses, the CEV imposed a ban on registering new players. 

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I would like to thank Ana for her trust. Additionally, I would like to thank my colleague Filip Blagojević for his cooperation in the arbitration proceeding.

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