Recent news
Latest items of recent news relevant to Germany as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.
Germany: Steel tube manufacturer Vallourec closes plants
Closure of steel tube company plants met by surprisingly peaceful union reception …
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Germany: Collective bargaining coverage remains stable in 2021
The long-term decline in sectoral collective bargaining seems to have levelled off …
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Germany: Is a tight labour market leading to an increase in poor hiring decisions?
The consultancy Robert Half recently undertook a survey of 300 x “C-level” managers to determine if the quality of recruitment decisions is falling relative to a year ago …
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Germany: Disability pension after getting rid of private vehicle
The existence, or otherwise, of a private vehicle is irrelevant to a decision concerning a pension due to reduced earnings capacity …
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Germany: No emailing of union information
An employer is not obliged to communicate trade union messages to the work email addresses of employees …
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Germany: Social security agreement with Ukraine
Although Germany has taken a significant proportion of refugees from the Ukraine war, those with jobs in Ukraine do not yet enjoy social security totalization rights in Germany …
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Germany: In-house advertisement of all positions at the request of the works council
A company may not apply a Group wide recruitment policy if it runs contrary to a local works council demand that all vacancies are openly advertised within a company …
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Germany: Selective lockout
Does an employer have the right to introduce a selective lockout in response to industrial action by a trade union? According to the Thuringia Regional Labour Court, any lockout – even though it was in response to a union strike action – could not be limited to members of the union that organised the strike …
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Germany: BAG on the burden of proof for overtime
In spite of the 2019 landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning time recording, an employer is only responsible for paying for overtime if the company requested it or clearly tolerated it …
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Germany: No reimbursement of further training costs in the event of voluntary termination due to illness
An employee should not be held to a repayment clause for training received if they were unable to meet a service requirement because of resignation due to ill-health …
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Germany: Data processing
Employers can easily overlook the fact that under German law, they are responsible for the data processing of their Works Council …
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Germany: Initial deal replaced by interim bonus in the Chemical sector
In our last issue, we reported an initially agreed offer in the Chemicals sector …
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Germany: New draft law to improve the protection of whistleblowers
Although Germany has had for many years a rudimentary set of protections for whistleblowers, the whistleblower concerned could still find themselves as the focus of blame for exposing wrongdoing at work …
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Germany: Tax-free allowance on noncash benefits
Employers should note that monthly limit on amounts payable to employees, often via cash cards or vouchers, has risen by 13 …
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Germany: Total number of trainees continues to decline
The longer-term trend for apprenticeships is clearly downhill …
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