Recent news

Latest items of recent news relevant to Germany as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.

Germany: The 2023 Christmas bonus

85 …

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Germany: Employment data for the parcels delivery sector

The postal and parcels delivery sector made record sales of 64 …

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Germany: Hard to fill training positions causes crisis in some sectors

Although the number of training positions in companies during 2022/23 has been in line with the previous period, there was still only 80 applicants for every 100 on offer …

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Germany: Participation rate of further training (2022)

In 2022, around 8% of 25 to 64-year-olds in Germany took part in an educational or further training course, 4% less than the average figure for the EU Member States …

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Germany: Charges for company car parking reduces tax liability

If a company charges a rental to employees to park their company car on work premises then the sum paid can be offset against the tax payable on the company car benefit …

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Germany: Are employers allowed to question a medical certificate?

An employer may only question a medical certificate in exceptional circumstances …

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Germany: Remuneration for Works Councilors

A draft amendment has been drawn up to the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG) by the federal government following a ruling in January by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) …

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Germany: Recruiting foreign skilled workers

Companies experiencing skill shortages often look to overseas workers to bridge the gap …

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Germany: Employers must not take action to engineer dismissal of a disabled employee

An employer with a long-service employee who has a deteriorating health condition rendering them as disabled, may not dismiss the employee on the grounds that there is no suitable alternative vacancy if actually such vacancies did exist when her condition had been first known …

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Germany: On-call minimum default hours

When employing workers with variable hours who can fill requirements as and when called upon, employers should bear in mind S12 Para1 of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG) …

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Germany: Lack of further training

A recent survey undertaken by Randstad for its ‘labour barometer’ monitoring service has found that the further training sought by employees is not fully met by German employers …

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Germany: Workplace telephone ban not subject to codetermination

The Federal Labour Court (BAG) has confirmed that an employer may ban private mobile phone use during working time without the need to first consult its company works council …

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Germany: A company may not deduct lawyer costs from a Works Council member’s salary

The Federal Labour Court (BAG) has confirmed the finding of a lower court in respect to a pay deduction …

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Germany: Company had no freedom to unilaterally restrict home working

Codetermination has once again reared its ugly head to make things operationally impossible for a reasonable employer …

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Germany: Bridging days in prospect for 2024

Next year several public holidays butt against, or close to, Weekends – such as New Year’s Day which could produce a ten-day seasonal holiday period and German Unity Day on Thursday, 3rd October 2024 which could be combined with Friday 4th October as a bridging day to produce a 4-day Weekend …

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