Employment Germany

Remuneration

Presumption of Discrimination due to Gender in Equal Pay Claims

By / 25 January 2021 / Discrimination, Equal Treatment, Remuneration

If a woman’s pay is lower than the comparative pay of her male colleagues, there is a rebuttable presumption of discrimination due to gender. The Problem According to the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz), discrimination on the basis of certain characteristics is unlawful. However, it is often impossible for the person discriminated against to …

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Employee Leasing: Deviation from Equal Pay

By / 5 November 2019 / Equal Treatment, Labour leasing, Remuneration, Temporary Workers

According to a judgement of the Federal Labour Court employers (agency) who lease employees (agency workers) to a third party (client) can deviate from the principle of equal treatment (“Equal Pay”) by virtue of a reference clause in the contract of employment only if, for the period of the lease, the relevant collective bargaining agreement …

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Good news for parents? – Interpretation of social plan severance provisions

By / 11 June 2019 / Discrimination, Equal Treatment, Parental Leave, Part-Time Work, Remuneration, Uncategorized

If, in a social compensation plan, the severance payment calculation is based solely on the gross monthly basic salary of a single reference month, the decisive salary of employees who work part-time in that month during their parental leave, is the gross monthly basic salary which they would have been entitled to under their employment …

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No co-determination rights of the works council for stock options issued by a foreign parent company

By / 11 June 2019 / Benefits, Remuneration, Works Council

In a judgment dated 3 August 2017, the Higher Regional Labour Court of Hessen has held that a works council’s co-determination rights do not extend to stock option plans by an employer’s foreign parent company (docket number 5 TaBV 23/17).   Under German law, works councils have a co-determination right regarding remuneration principles. In this …

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Requirements of offering of job performance, relationship to reintegration relationship

By / 11 June 2019 / Remuneration, Sickness

On 6 December 2017 the Federal Labor Court (docket number 5 AZR 815/16) decided an employee has to offer his job performance in accordance with the contract of employment, in order to claim remuneration for default of acceptance. It is not sufficient to offer an activity within a reintegration relationship according to sec. 74 Social …

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Employer obligation to provide individual target agreements to safety authority

By / 11 June 2019 / Bonus Payments, Health, Remuneration, Working time, Works Council

Employers may be required to provide safety authorities with information on individual target agreements with their employees. In a judgment dated 28 February 2018, the Dusseldorf administrative court confirmed a corresponding order by the local safety authority (docket number 29 K 4191/16). In the case at hand, the employer offers consulting services. It is bound …

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Does the employer have to pay for clothes change times?

By / 11 June 2019 / Remuneration, Working time

Many professions require the wearing of special clothing, whether for hygiene or safety reasons (for example, in a hospital), or to show a particular corporate identity (for example, supermarket vendors). The worker does not wear the clothing because he wants to, but because the employer demands it. This leads to several problems: First, the question …

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Reduction of a Special Payment Possible Despite Unrestricted Granting for Years

By / 11 June 2019 / Bonus Payments, Employment contract, Remuneration

On 23 August 2017 the Federal Labour Court decided that despite the unrestricted granting of a special payment for multiple years, the employer may reduce the amount of a special payment in the future provided that the employment agreement contains a reservation in this respect (docket number 10 AZR 97/17). The employee and later plaintiff …

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Obligation to provide the works council with salary data does not allow for anonymized lists

By / 11 June 2019 / Remuneration, Works Council

Under the Works Constitution Act, the works council has a right to access information regarding the gross salary of employees. Such information is provided to the works council in form of a chart including relevant compensation details. In a case decided by the Higher Regional Labour Court of North Rhine Westphalia – Hamm – (judgment …

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Minimum wage also applies to public holidays and night work premiums

By / 11 June 2019 / Minimum Wage, Remuneration

Remuneration on public holidays, as well as night work premiums, which are based on the actual hourly earnings must be calculated at least on the basis of the minimum wage. This is the result of a new judgment by the Federal Labour Court dated 20 September 2017 (docket number 10 AZR 171/16). In the case at hand, the …

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

By / 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 …

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Demonstrating readiness to work every three minutes is unreasonable

By / 11 June 2019 / Data Protection, Minimum Wage, Remuneration, Working time

On 10 August 2017 the Labour Court of Berlin stated that it is unreasonable to require a taxi driver to press a button at short intervals of time in order to control the employee’s readiness to work (judgement of the Berlin Labour Court dated 10 August 2017, docket number 41 Ca 12115/16). The employee works …

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New Act on Remuneration Transparency

By / 11 June 2019 / burden of proof, Compliance, Discrimination, Equal Treatment, Government/Politics, Legislation, Remuneration, Uncategorized

Following up our blog post from December 19, 2016 where we reported about a legislative proposal to promote equal pay between women and men, the Remuneration Transparency Act has now entered into force. Arguing that women still earn 7 % less than men even if statistics account for women frequently working part-time, less often climbing …

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

By / 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 …

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