In the dispute over the dismissal because of an office chair that had been taken, the Archdiocese of Cologne suffered a defeat in court against its legal counsel.
The Cologne Labor Court upheld the woman's claim on Tuesday.
The termination was found to be invalid, it said.
The reason given was that the non-agreed taking of the employer's property home constitutes a breach of duty. In the situation at the time, shortly after the outbreak of the corona pandemic, that was not enough to justify an extraordinary termination.
At that time, the archdiocese gave priority to working from home.
However, the necessary equipment was not made available at such short notice.
The former legal adviser to the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainer Maria Woelki, had sued against the termination of her employment in the proceedings.
Among other things, she had been dismissed because she had taken her back-friendly office chair home with her at the beginning of the corona pandemic.
The judgment can be appealed.