Stuttgart beats Heidenheim to climb into Bundesliga top four

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Bilal El Khannouss continued his successful start to life on loan at Stuttgart as he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Heidenheim in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

In driving rain, El Khannouss ran at the Stuttgart defense and dodged two challenges before scoring with a low shot from the edge of the box in the 65th minute.

A third consecutive Bundesliga win lifted Stuttgart to fourth in the league and Heidenheim was left in the relegation zone.

El Khannouss scored for the second time since the Moroccan attacking midfielder joined Stuttgart on loan from Leicester last month.

Beating Heidenheim meant Stuttgart bounced back from a 2-0 loss at Basel in the Europa League on Thursday.

Hamburger SV recorded its biggest margin of victory in a top-division league game for 12 years as Rayan Philippe scored twice in a 4-0 win over Mainz.

Hamburg, which was promoted back to the Bundesliga for this season after being relegated in 2018, was 2-0 up after 10 minutes against a Mainz team lacking first-choice goalkeeper Robin Zentner following his red card against Borussia Dortmund last week.

It's been a tough start to the season for Mainz, which finished sixth last season to qualify for the Conference League but has only four points from six Bundesliga games last season.

Borussia Moenchengladbach stayed winless with a 0-0 draw at home to Freiburg.

Gladbach shored up its defense after conceding six goals against Eintracht Frankfurt last week, and picked up a point to move from last place in the 18-team league to 17th above Heidenheim. Freiburg is eighth. Gladbach is still searching for a new coach after firing Gerardo Seoane last month.

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Mönchengladbach's Luca Netz, right, and Freiburg's Jan-Niklas Beste in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and SC Freiburg at Stadion im Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach, Germany, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)

Hamburger's Jean-Luc Dompé, right, celebrates scoring with Luka Vusskovic during the Bundesliga soccer match between Hamburger SV and FSV Mainz 05 at the Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (Marcus Brandt/dpa via AP)

Hamburger's Rayan Philippe, center, celebrates scoring during the Bundesliga soccer match between Hamburger SV and FSV Mainz 05 at the Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (Marcus Brandt/dpa via AP)

Stuttgart players celebrate Bilal El Khannouss' goal during the Bundesliga soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Heidenheim at MHPArena, Stuttgart, Germany, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (Bernd Weissbrod/dpa via AP)

INCHEON, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 2, 2026--

The Samsung Biologics Labor Union criticized Samsung Biologics after the Incheon Regional Labor Relations Commission (Case No. Incheon 2025 Discrimination 10) ruled the company’s exclusion of contract workers from holiday gift benefits constituted discriminatory treatment. Following this, the company changed counsel from Bae, Kim & Lee LLC to Kim & Chang, South Korea’s largest and most premium corporate law firm, and filed for review before the National Labor Relations Commission.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260402905034/en/

The union does not view this as a minor welfare dispute. It is difficult to justify a company with $1.3 billion in operating profit contesting a $10,000 matter (about $66 per worker for 150 contract workers) rather than accepting the outcome. The core issue is the decision to exclude contract workers over such a trivial cost, and then aggressively defend that discrimination instead of correcting it.

While the company reportedly argued the gift was a discretionary CEO benefit, the union stated that treating a negotiated benefit as unilateral generosity reflects a tendency to view people as costs, not organizational members.

The union added this raises broader concerns about human rights and ESG credibility. Excluding workers based on employment status and fighting labor rulings is inconsistent with the company's publicly promoted ESG values. Furthermore, the union warned that management's pattern of making such irrational decisions is driving labor-management relations into a structural conflict. True ESG credibility requires workplace fairness and respect for human dignity.

Jaesung Park, President of the Samsung Biologics Labor Union, said, “The amount at issue may be small, but the discriminatory mindset revealed is not. Such repeated irrational decisions are destroying foundational trust and creating a structural crisis in our labor relations. What the company needs now is not a determination to fight a small cost to the end, but the common-sense decision to correct discrimination and treat people as members of the organization.”

A written judgment from the Labor Relations Commission confirming that Samsung Biologics discriminated against a fixed-term employee regarding holiday benefits.