Miriam Hendrich

Extraordinary termination due to feigning incapacity for work

By Miriam Hendrich / 3 January 2018 11 June 2019 / Dismissal, Sickness, Termination

On 7 July 2017 the State Labour Court in Cologne (docket number 4 Sa 936/16) decided that a strong suspicion that an incapacity for work is feigned, is sufficient to justify a termination for good cause, in the course of a dismissal on grounds of suspicion, even though a certificate of incapacity exists. In general a certificate of incapacity for work has such strong evidential value that a trial judge is usually entitled to consider the proof of incapacity for work as demonstrated. However, the evidential value of a certificate of incapacity can be displaced if the employer demonstrates reasonable …

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Allowances for work on Sundays, bank holidays or at night are protected against attachment

By Miriam Hendrich / 29 September 2017 11 June 2019 / Remuneration, Working time

On 23 August 2017 the Federal Labour Court ruled (judgment, 10 AZR 859/16) that allowances for work on Sundays, on bank holidays and at night are protected against attachment so far as the amount of such payments is common practice. Whether the extent and amount of such allowances are “common”, which means they are protected against attachments (according to sec 850a no. 3 ZPO), can be linked to sec. 3b EStG. In the current case, a personal insolvency proceeding was annulled, where the plaintiff was in a phase of good conduct (Wohlverhaltensphase) and assigned the attachable remuneration to a trustee. …

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No codetermination regarding a customer feedback function within a smartphone app

By Miriam Hendrich / 22 September 2017 11 June 2019 / Company Practice, Social networks, Works Council

On 8 June 2017 the Labour Court of Heilbronn decided that a smartphone application, provided and operated by an employer, allowing customers to share their feedback including statements about the performance and the behaviour of certain employees is not a surveillance tool according to § 87 I Nr. 6 BetrVG, if the employer does not ask for this kind of feedback and does not process the information further (judgement of the Heilbronn Labour Court dated 8 June 2017, docket number 8 BV 6/16). The employer, a company operating in the food retail business, runs an application that offers the possibility …

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40 Euro lump sum compensation in the event of late or incomplete wages

By Miriam Hendrich / 26 January 2017 11 June 2019 / Employment contract, Remuneration

On 22 November 2016, the Labour Court Cologne decided that an employer who pays late or incomplete wages is obliged to pay lump sum compensation in the amount of 40 Euros to the affected employee (Judgement of 22.11.2016 – 12 SA 524/16). In 2011 the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union passed the Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions. “The aim of this Directive is to combat late payment in commercial transactions, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market, thereby fostering the competitiveness of undertakings and in particular of SMEs. …

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Employment Germany

Miriam Hendrich