German Federal Labor Court Archives - EMPLOYEE BENEFITS BLOG

German Statutory Minimum Wage May Include Vacation and Christmas Bonuses

by Dr. Thomas Gennert | Jul 5, 2016 | Employment, Labor

On May 25, 2016, the German Federal Labor Court confirmed a decision of the State Labor Court Berlin-Brandenburg (reference number: 5 AZR 135/16) regarding the statutory minimum wage in Germany. The German Federal Labor court confirmed that, under certain conditions, vacation and Christmas bonuses may also be considered when determining if an employer pays his employees the statutory minimum wage in Germany. This was the first time that the German Federal Labor Court had considered this issue. (more…)

Rights of Job Applicants in Germany

by Dr. Gudrun Germakowski and Dr. Sandra Urban-Crell | May 29, 2014 | Employment, Labor

The German Federal Labor Court made a very clear ruling regarding job applicants in Germany who are not offered the position for which such applicants applied. In the Federal Labor Court’s view, a rejected applicant has no right to know whether another applicant was offered or accepted the position. (Federal Labor Court, verdict dated April 25, 2013, case number 8 AZR 287/08)

This case concerned a plaintiff who was born in the former Soviet Union in 1961. She applied for a position that was advertised by a German company, the defendant in this case. Even though the plaintiff fulfilled all required qualifications, she was rejected and did not receive a job offer. The plaintiff presumed that this decision was based on discrimination for her gender, age and origin. The Federal Labor Court submitted the case to the European Court of Justice to determine whether the job applicant had a right to information regarding why she was not selected, or if another applicant was selected for the position. The European Court of Justice rendered its verdict on April 19, 2012 (case number C415/10), and stated that rejected job applicants had no right to this information under European law.

The German Federal Labor Court dismissed the case because it could not detect any evidence of discrimination. The mere refusal of the defendant to disclose any information related to the application process and/or the hiring could not establish the presumption of an inadmissible discrimination, according to Section 7 of the German General Equal Treatment Act.

However, this ruling has to be viewed with great caution. The German decision is not in line with the aforementioned ruling in the same matter of the European Court of Justice. The European judges, in contrast to the German Court, stressed that the complete refusal to give out any information regarding the hiring could actually be evaluated as a presumption of possible discrimination. This remarkable difference in the two verdicts was not explained by the German judges and as long as their reasoning remains unclear, German employers should provide a short explanation to rejected applicants when they ask the reason why they have been rejected for an open position (e.g., the other candidate better satisfies the qualification profile, made a better impression at the job interview, seems to be a more motivated and energetic person, etc.).

In Germany, the Burden of Proof Is on Employees if an Employee Wants to be Compensated for Requested Overtime

by Dr. Sandra Urban-Crell | Mar 25, 2014 | Employment

If a German employee claims special payment for overtime he has performed, it is the employee who has the burden of proof regarding the following requirements:

the fact that he actually worked overtime; and
the fact that the employer explicitly ordered to work overtime or at least has approved or tolerated the performed overtime.

In situations where there is a dispute regarding the payment of overtime, the second requirement is very difficult for the employee to prove. Nevertheless, in its decision dated 10 April 2013 – file number 5 AZR 122/12 – the German Federal Labor Court confirmed these legal principles, and strengthened the position of employers in disputed cases regarding employee overtime.

Where the disputed overtime was not expressly ordered by the employer, but was merely approved or tolerated by the employer, the German Federal Labor Court emphasized that the employee has to prove the employer’s knowledge of each single case of performed overtime and that the employer expressly or impliedly consented to it.

If the employee claims that the overtime order was given by way of implication, e.g., by assigning tasks that could not have been accomplished during regular working time, he has to prove that these tasks could not have been finished without working overtime.

Given these strict requirements and the modern working environment that generally does not have explicit or even written work orders, employees will likely have a very difficult time producing evidence to support a disputed overtime claim in Germany.