Recent news
Latest items of recent news relevant to Germany as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.
Germany: Night work tax-free – in spite of irregularities
The Schleswig-Holstein Finance Court has determined that even though an employer did not keep a clear record of employee start and end times for night working a tax-free payment was legitimate …
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Germany: Right to exemption from shifts due to child-care responsibilities
The Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Labour Court (LAG) has confirmed a lower court’s decision concerning the timing of shifts to meet an employee’s childcare support times …
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Germany: Fixed-term employees (2022)
According to the 2022 AIB Establishment Panel review of fixed-term work, 58% of all fixed-term contracts were for “no objective reason” …
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Germany: Responsibility for a company bicycle lease
Whether an employee is obliged to continue paying the leasing charge for the bicycle provided under a company scheme depends entirely on the wording of the underlying contract …
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Germany: Dealing with a nervensäge
If an employee objects to the reference letter from their former employer and then rejects the replacement text as well, an employer is not entitled to indicate their natural frustration by removing a paragraph thanking the employee for their “valuable work” at the end of the third version, even though the rest of the revised reference was otherwise more positive than previous versions …
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Germany: May a company ban access by a works council Chairman to company premises?
The Hessian State Labour Court has required a company to lift its ban on the grounds that it created an impediment to the work of the works council (Section 78 BetrVG) …
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Germany: Summary dismissal legitimate for extreme chat group remarks
The Federal Labour Court has confirmed that an employer was justified in dismissing an employee for gross misconduct when a member of an online chat group expressed views that were “highly insulting, racist, sexist and inciting to violence about superiors and other colleagues” …
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Germany: Parental allowance rules
According to a judgment of the Federal Social Court of September 7, 2023, an employee does not lose their entitlement to the receipt of “Parental Allowance Plus” if they fall ill after the period covered has commenced …
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Germany: Alteration of a team assignment declared unlawful under codetermination law
The way that German employers are greatly impaired by the right of works councils to interfere in the most petty of operational decisions can be readily found in so many day-to-day frustrations experienced by management …
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Germany: Many companies unable to fill trainee positions
According to a major survey undertaken by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), 47% of companies are currently unable to fill their traineeship vacancies …
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Germany: Codetermination rights for a new appointment – how far should it go?
Recently, the Brandenburg State Labour Court (LAG) was called upon to determine whether an employer should inform their works council about past criminal convictions of a person transferred into a managerial position …
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Germany: Increasing conflict associated with collective bargaining
So far this year there have been 12 collective negotiations where there has been at least a warning strike …
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Germany: Manufacturing remains in negative territory (August 2023)
Although the manufacturing PMI slightly improved in August 2023 to 39 …
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Germany: Termination for improper use of business fuel card
The State Labour Court of Lower Saxony has ruled that an employer may dismiss an employee without prior warning if it is found that they have paid for fuel in respect to their private vehicle with the company card …
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Germany: Notification of vacancies to works councils
The Cologne Labour Court has ruled that an employer must rigidly comply with statutory obligations before advertising new vacancies …
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