The decision of the European Court of Justice concerned the scope of protection for people with regard to employment rights.
Deborah Lawrie-Blum was a British national who had passed the first stage of teacher training whilst studying at the University of Freiburg.
She was refused entry to the second stage of training by the State of Baden-Württemberg because teachers in Germany are regarded as civil servants.
Lawrie-Blum took the case to the Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht) in Freiburg on the grounds that she was a worker and therefore entitled to obtain employment in any EEC state.
The ECJ stated that the concept of ‘worker’ in Article 48 should be interpreted broadly as (I) a person (II) performing services (III) under the direction of another (IV) for remuneration, and that included a trainee teacher.