Since the beginning of the pandemic, everyone knows the difference between surgical masks and FFP2 or FFP3 masks. Most of us have also experienced for ourselves that it is much easier to breathe under a surgical mask. This was certainly also in mind in a decision by the Baden-Württemberg Regional Labour Court in the spring, judgement of 23.3.2022, file number […]
The number of corona cases is expected to rise again in autumn and winter. Infections could then also occur more frequently in the workplace. Health protection is therefore likely to become a top issue again. However, employers will not be obliged to offer home office to their employees in autumn and winter. This is true even if home office was […]
Dismissals without notice can often be successfully challenged before the German labour courts. This was also the case in a recent case in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. A motor vehicle mechanic had borrowed a transport vehicle from his employer on a weekend in May 2022. He did not have permission to use company vehicles privately. Nevertheless, the Labour Court and the Regional […]
The minimum wage also applies to foreign employers when they send workers to Germany for home care. Therefore, the minimum wage for work in Germany cannot be circumvented by agreeing in the employment contract to apply foreign law. Contracts are often used in home care, where particularly many skilled workers from Eastern Europe work below the minimum wage. Last year’s […]
If the invalidity of a dismissal is established before the labour court following a claim against wrongful termination, the salary must in principle continue to be paid for the period after the expiry of the notice period. Thus, employees subsequent payment for periods during which they did not work because of the dismissal. In a recent decision, the Labour Court […]
Anyone who signs a termination agreement must also abide by it. This applies in principle even if strong psychological pressure is exerted by superiors to get the signature. Supervisors therefore have a lot of leeway when negotiating termination agreements, although there are of course limits. For this reason, it is often difficult for employees to withdraw from a signed termination […]
Time and again, the question of false self-employment comes up before the labour courts. The courts then have to decide whether someone was actually employed on a freelance basis or instead as an employee. The decision has considerable consequences for both sides. For example, the question of whether social security contributions must be paid in arrears for several years depends […]
A Regional Labour Court has ruled on a dispute between a logistics company and its works council over smoking breaks. The company provides logistics services in a seaport. Large quantities of timber and timber products are handled in this port. There have been recent fires in the wood processing companies around the port. The breaks of the employer’s employees are […]
Is refusal to provide evidence of a negative test grounds for dismissal? In a recent ruling, the Bielefeld Labor Court decided that the persistent refusal to present a negative test at the start of work justifies termination without notice. The ruling is all the more surprising because the employee had been employed by the company for almost 24 years. However, […]
The case: The employer had requested an employee to put on a mouth/nose mask. The employee refused and sent the defendant’s company doctor a “medical certificate for mask exemption”. In it, the exemption from the mask requirement was justified as follows: “After anamnesis and examination in my practice, I hereby state: the above-mentioned patient is exempt from wearing a mechanical […]
