Labour law
Issues of labour law constitute one of the fields of law which are in the particular focus of our offices’ counsel ling practice. Our lawyers are especially qualified in labour law so that you can profit from their experience which they have gained in connection with their continued intensive work concerning broad issues and problems as well as individual situations which are governed by labour law, as they are counseling both employers and employees in all the fields of individual labour law, collective labour law (i.e. German Works Council Constitution Act, Collective Bargaining Act) and company pension schemes, and as they represent them, if necessary, before the Labour Courts (i.e. Regional Labour Courts and Federal German Labour Court).
Issues with which we are particularly concerned in the field of individual labour law are questions and problems referring to
- Conclusion and drafting of the employment contract (place of employment, working hours or times, remuneration/salary /wages, vacation, payment in lieu of vacation, continued payment of remuneration/salary in case of illness, notification of illness, probationary period, time limit of contract, part-time work, transfer and relocation, shifting, additional work, overtime, employers’ rights to give instructions, times of prior notice of termination, (vocational) training, vocational training contract, insignificant employment, seniors’ part-time employment, preclusive period, cut-off period, forfeiture period, commitment to collective agreements, civil service, Federal German Collective Agreement for Public Employees, Collective Agreement for Public Service Employees, etc.,
- the termination of employments by way of agreement of annulment or notice of termination, inclusive of clients’ representation in lawsuits concerning protection against unlawful dismissal according to the German Act providing for Protection against Unlawful Dismissal or cases of special protection against unlawful dismissal (i.e. on the grounds of severe disablement, work in works council, pregnancy, maternity protection, parenting leave or nursing leave) which may also come into consideration, as well as to regularly upcoming problems of lump sum payments or indemnifications and the wording and contents of references and employment records which may be of relevance
- the administration of existing employment contracts in a context with, e.g. transfers or relocations, dismissals with the option of altered conditions of employment, short-time work, requests for part-time work, in-company training and further training, mobbing, release from work and leave of absence, ad hortatory letters, interim references and credentials, parenting time, equal opportunities, discrimination, transfer of company ownership under Section 613 a of the German Civil Code, etc.,
- Counseling of employees/employers in cases of insolvency and parties’ representation, if necessary.
The work with which we are concerned in the field of collective labour law is specifically focusing on questions and problems concerning issues of
- works constitution law (information, workers participation and co-determination rights of the works council, questions arising in a context with the constitution of a works council , election of members of works councils, formal and informal works agreements, reconciliation of interests and social compensation plans in case of changes of companies’ operations, proceedings before conciliation boards, labour court orders, release and leave of absence of and further training for members of the works council, central works council,, group works council, European works council, spokespersons’ committee, etc.),
- collective bargaining law (obligation to abide by collective bargaining agreement, membership in associations, individual companies’ collective bargaining agreements) and industrial conflicts law (strike, lock-out, duty to refrain from industrial action),
- personnel representation law.
Our work in the field of company pension schemes concentrates in particular on questions and problems concerning the setting of pension schemes and pension commitments, questions of non-forfeitability and issues and questions concerning the adaptation and the safeguarding of pension expectancies in cases of insolvency.