Monthly Dose Employment Law 10/2025: (1) European Court of Justice (ECJ) dated 30 October 2025 (C-134/24, ‘Tomann’, and C-402/24, ‘Sewel’) on the requirements under EU law for the notification procedure in the event of mass redundancies and the legal consequences of omitted or incorrect notifications, (2) Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) dated 31 July 2025 (6 AZR 18/25) on the validity of fixed-term employment contracts upon reaching the standard retirement age and on the admissibility of differentiating between public officials and employees when granting hardship allowances, (3) ECJ dated 11 September 2025 (C-38/24) on the protection under EU law of parents of disabled children, (4) Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labour Court (Landesarbeitsgericht, LAG) dated 25 July 2025 (12 SLa 640/25) on the relevant assessment date for the applicability of the German Dismissal Protection Act (Kündigungsschutzgesetz, KSchG) in the case of staff reduction measures (which the court determines to be the date of the business decision on staff reduction and not the date of receipt of the notice of dismissal, provided that this is based on a uniform plan), and (5) LAG Schleswig-Holstein dated 19 August 2025 (1 Sa 104/25) on the validity of two conduct-related dismissals from employment that were pronounced on the occasion of a ‘funeral speech’ in-tended as a joke in a WhatsApp group.
Protection against dismissal in an international context – what companies need to know: Employers headquartered outside Germany employ staff in Germany in numerous areas, such as sales, local technical support, and IT, who often work from home due to a lack of their own domestic premises. The relevant law regarding the protection against dismissal of these employees is – provided that the employment relationship is subject to German law – the Protection Against Dismissal Act (KSchG). Outside the scope of the KSchG (and regardless of regulations on special protection against dismissal), employees do not generally enjoy comprehensive protection against dismissal. According to Section 23 (1) KSchG, this protection against dismissal generally only applies in companies that regularly employ more than ten full-time employees, with part-time employees being taken into account on a pro rata basis. The legal requirements in Germany must be met, which is why, for example, the number of employees working abroad is irrelevant.
Institutsvergütungsverordnung 5.0-E: The legislative process for the Banking Directive Implementation and Bureaucracy Relief Act (BRUBEG) is moving into the Bundestag—and will be the subject of the first reading at the session on 17 December 2025. The federal government published an updated draft of the bill on 3 December 2025. The updated draft bill was preceded by the government draft of 10 October 2025 and the recommendations of the Finance Committee and the Economic Committee of the Bundestag of 7 November 2025 and the opinion of the Bundesrat dated 21 November 2025. In this Client Alert, we summarise the status of the regulations relevant to remuneration systems and remuneration governance in the updated draft bill on amendments to the German Ordinance for Remuneration Systems (Institutsvergütungsverordnung, IVV 5.0-RegE) and the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, KWG 2025-RegE).
Monthly Dose Employment Law 09/2025: (1) the German Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) dated 8 May 2025 (8 AZR 209/21) on the admissibility under data protection law of the use of personal data in the test operation of AI-supported HR-Software; (2) of the BAG dated 3 June 2025 (9 AZR 104/24) on the (in)effectiveness of waiving statutory (minimum) vacation entitlements in a labor court settlement; (3) of the BAG dated 16 April 2025 (7 AZR 80/24) on the admissibility of remuneration for work performed in cryptocurrency as payment in kind; (4) of the BAG dated 18 June 2025 (7 AZR 50/24) on the admissibility of unfounded fixed-term employment contracts for works council members and (5) of the Lower Saxony Regional Labor Court dated 25 April 2025 (17 TaBV 62/24) on the entitlement of individual works council members to a personalised email address for external communication.
Monthly Dose Employment Law: 08/2025: 1. German Federal Labor Court (BAG) judgement on the entitlement of an exempt works council member / 2. BAG judgement on the consideration of benefits from virtual stock options for compensation payments / 3. BAG judgement on the power of representation of the administrator of a residential property owners’ association / 4. Regional Labour Court (LAG) Cologne judgement on the termination of the employment with a pregnant employee / 5. LAG Thüringen judgement on the attribution of a previous contractual relationship in the termination of an employment within the waiting period
Company pension law – Case Law Update 2/2025: 1. KNo Statutory Employer Contribution / 2. Qualifying Period for Company Pensions / 3. Sec. 16 (1) BetrAVG and (Annual Guaranteed) Minimum Adjustments / 4. No Pension Adjustment Based on Financially Strong Group Environment
Monthly Dose Employment Law 07/2025: 1. trade union's (non-existent) right to access employees' email addresses or the employer's internal platformaccess / 2. scope of a collective bargaining exclusion period in a framework collective agreement / 3. employee's (non-existent) claim for damages under the GDPR / 4. expiry of (virtual) stock options from an employee participation programme / 5. employee's claim for damages under the AGG in the event of gender-based refusal to cooperate by a customer
Monthly Dose Employment Law 06/2025: 1. proportionality of the length of the probation period in a fixed-term employment relationship / 2. willful failure to actively seek employment during a period of release in the notice period / 3. lack of evidentiary value of automated break deductions and the burden of substantiation in overtime compensation proceedings / 4. liability risks for employers due to delayed target setting / 5. interpretation of tariff provisions
"Monthly Dose" Employment Law: 05/2025: 1. probative value of foreign certificates of incapacity for work / 2. evidentiary value of a delivery receipt and the transmission history in the case of a registered letter with delivery confirmation (Einwurfeinschreiben) / 3. burden of proof of a whistleblower in a dismissal lawsuit / 4. qualification of a managerial employee (leitender Angestellter) according to Section 5 (3) of the German Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG) / 5. claims for damages for forwarding private chat messages to the human resources department
"Monthly Dose" Employment Law: 04/2025: 1. offsetting alternative earnings despite paid garden leave under a termination agreement with "Sprinter Clause" / 2. abusive nature of compensation claims for discrimination filed by “AGG hoppers” / 3. inadmissibility of sending election documents for works council elections in a blanket manner / 4. group privilege in the context of employee leasing / 5. (non-)repeat of the negotiation procedure on employees participation in the formation of an SE via a shelf company / 6. employee status of freelance lecturers due to the lack of personal dependence in crowdwork-like activities
Monthly Dose Employment Law: 03/2025: 1. co-determination right of the works council regarding the adjustment of remuneration for an exempted works council member; 2. collective bargaining regulations for overtime pay for part-time employees; 3. entitlement to a wage increase based on the principle of equal treatment in the event of non-signing of new contracts; 4. replacement of consent for the classification of an employee into the non-tariff sector; 5. obligation to record working hours for domestic workers.
Monthly Dose Employment Law: 02/2025: 1. remuneration of rest breaks by allocation at the employer’s reasonable discretion; 2. required minimum difference between non-tariff remuneration and the highest tariff remuneration; 3. reclaiming of continued remuneration in case of doubtful incapacity for work; 4. grossly negligent violation of safety instructions as an extraordinary reason for termination; 5. necessity of carrying out a prevention procedure pursuant to Section 167 (1) of the Ninth German Social Code (SGB IX).
Company pension law – Case Law Update 1/2025: 1. entitlement to pension obligations based on the labour law related equal treatment principle in the executive of normative provisions; 2. requirements for the deterioration of company pension schemes within a company group; 3. employer's contribution to salary conversion in accordance with Sec. 1a (1a) of the German Company Pension Act; 4. requirements for the conditional and causal link between a pension commitment and the beneficiary's work for the company for the qualification of the pension commitment as a company pension scheme
Monthly Dose Employment Law: 01/2025: 1. co-determination of the works council in the introduction of desk sharing and a clean desk policy ; 2. inflation compensation during parental leave under collective bargaining agreement; 3. remuneration entitlements of employees in dismissal lawsuits in case of malicious omission to other earnings; 3. overtime pay entitlements of part-time employees.
The 19th sanctions package against Russia: With the 19th sanctions package, the EU member states have decided on further and, in some cases, comprehensive financial and economic sanctions (embargoes) against Russia and Belarus.
The 17th sanctions package against Russia: Passing the 17th sanctions package, EU member states once impose further financial and economic sanctions against Russia.
The 19th sanctions package against Russia: With the 19th sanctions package, the EU member states have decided on further and, in some cases, comprehensive financial and economic sanctions (embargoes) against Russia and Belarus.
Update Energy Law September 2025 (in German language): Bundesregierung legt Gesetz für einen Zuschuss zu den Übertragungsnetzkosten vor; Kabinett beschließt Gesetzentwurf zum KRITIS-Dachgesetz; EU-Parlament und Rat der Europäischen Union beschließen CBAM-Reform; Monitoringbericht zur Energiewende veröffentlicht.
The 17th sanctions package against Russia: Passing the 17th sanctions package, EU member states once impose further financial and economic sanctions against Russia.
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