On March, 6 2019 the State Labour Court Baden Wurttemberg (docket number 4 Sa 73/18) decided that half day vacation does not fulfil the legal requirements where employees don’t have an entitlement to request such micro vacation. In the case at issue, the plaintiff filed legal cause against his employer demanding his right to be granted a half day vacation at least 8 times a year. The employer withdraw this request, arguing there was no …
On 14 May 2019, the ECJ held (docket no. C-55/18), that Member States must oblige employers by law to set up a system for recording the time worked each day. In proceedings between the Federatión de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) – a Spanish Union – and Deutsche Bank SAE concerning the lack of a system for recording the time worked each day by the workers employed by the latter, the National High Court of …
Member States must require employers to set up a time recording system Read More »
With its judgment dated 6 June 2018 (docket number 21 Sa 48/17), the Higher Regional Labor Court of Baden-Wurttemberg (Landesarbeitsgericht Baden-Württemberg) found that an employer may use evidence proving an employee’s breach of a contractual duty against the employee, even though the evidence had only been accidentally discovered during a search of the employee’s IT-equipment. The court decided that the evidence could still be used, even if the original search itself was inadmissible pursuant to …
On 16 April the European Parliament voted to approve the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive, which is aimed at strengthening the rights of workers and improving working conditions by promoting more transparent and predictable employment whilst ensuring labour market adaptability. The Directive applies in particular to platform workers (aka crowd workers), but also covers workers including those in casual or short-term employment, on-demand workers, intermittent workers, and voucher-based workers. Genuinely self-employed persons should not …
Crowd Working and the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive Read More »
From January 2019, employees will now generally need to carry an A1 form whenever they are normally working in, or posted to, other EEA countries in order to avoid liability for social security contributions and potential fines. In general, an employee pays social security contributions to the country they are working in. However, employees from an EEA country working in another EEA country may continue paying social security contributions in their home country and will …
A1-form required for business trips abroad – significant fines may apply Read More »
In its recent decision dated 19 March 2019 the Federal Labour Court ruled that periods of unpaid leave will not be taken into consideration when calculating statutory vacation entitlements (docket number 9 AZR 315/17). In the case at hand, the employee had taken unpaid leave from 1 September 2013 until 31 August 2015. Upon returning to work, she requested statutory vacation days for 2014. Under statutory law, employees are entitled to 24 days of paid …
Unpaid leave allows for reduced vacation entitlement Read More »
On February 7, 2019 the Federal Labour Court (docket number 6 AZR 75/18) ruled that employees cannot withdraw a termination agreement even if it was concluded in the private apartment of the employee. In the case at hand, however, the termination agreement might be void if the fundamentals of fair negotiation (Gebot des fairen Verhandelns) have been ignored. The parties agreed to a termination agreement in the apartment of the plaintiff. The termination agreement comprised …
Termination agreements: Employees have no right of withdrawal Read More »
In an indicative ruling dated August 02, 2018, the Higher Regional Court Munich (docket number 7 U 2107/18) has found that a post-contractual restraint which prohibited a managing director from working for a competitor in any way was invalid due to the lack of legitimate interests of the company. The managing director was therefore able to legitimately claim the invalidity of the non-compete obligation in the form of a preliminary injunction. The indicative ruling is …
Post-contractual non-compete obligation must not cover all activities for a competitor Read More »
On 12 February 2019 the Federal Labour Court (docket number 1 AZR 279/17) ruled that a social plan severance and a compensation of disadvantage (Nachteilsausgleich) need to be offset. In March 2014, the employer took the decision to shut down its operation which the plaintiff was employed in. The employer informed the works council about the mass redundancy and tried – at least for a short period – to reach a balance of interest (Interessenausgleich). …
In a judgment dated 25 October 2018 the Federal Labour Court (docket number 8 AZR 501/14) ruled that religious employers are no longer allowed to ask all applicants for membership of a Christian church in job advertisements. Unequal treatment on grounds of religion is only permissible if, according to the nature of the activities or the circumstances of their exercise, religion constitutes a substantial, legitimate and justified work-related requirement in light of the ethos of …
Job advertisements asking for church membership tend to be discriminatory Read More »
On September 13, 2018 the State Labour Court Hamburg (docket number 2 TaBV 5/18) ruled that works councils have a right of co-determination concerning the employer’s Twitter account in accordance with Sec. 87 Para. 1 No. 6 Works Constitution Act as Twitter is a technical device designed to monitor the behaviour or performance of the employees. The respondent in this trial is an employer which operates several cinemas in Germany. It created a Twitter account …
Works Council has Right of Co-Determination Concerning Employer’s Twitter Account Read More »
The advocate general of the European Court of Justice is of the opinion that the member states have to pass a law which obliges companies to record the daily and weekly working hours of their fulltime employees, who are not contractually obligated to work overtime hours and who are not mobile employees, employees of the merchant navy or in the railway sector, to ensure the effective implementation of European Directive 2003/88/EG(2). The EU wants to …
ECJ Advocate General: Companies are obligated to record daily and weekly working hours Read More »
According to a judgment of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) dated 19 December 2018 (docket number 10 AZR 231/18), part-time employees can be entitled to the payment of overtime premiums with regard to working hours that go past the agreed part-time hours but do not exceed the working hours of full-time employment. In the case in question, the Plaintiff was a part-time employee for the Defendant. A framework collective agreement, which contained regulations on, …
Entitlement to overtime premiums regarding part-time employment Read More »
By judgment of 11 December 2018 (docket number: 3 400/17) the Federal Labour Court has ruled that a so-called “age difference clause” (Altersabstandsklausel) providing that a survivor’s benefit is reduced if the age difference between the spouses is more than 10 years is admissible and is not to be considered as unjustified discrimination on grounds of age. The plaintiff was born in 1945. Her husband was born in 1930 and died in 2014. The spouses …
With its judgment dated 21 August 2018, the Higher Regional Labour Court of Baden-Wurttemberg (Landesarbeitsgericht Baden-Württemberg) decided that the dismissal of an employee as part of a mass redundancy is invalid if the notice of termination is signed prior to receipt of the mass dismissal notification to the authority. The time of the receipt of notice of termination by the employee is irrelevant (docket number: 12 Sa 17/18). Under German law, the Employment Office must …
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