If no additional agreement is made between the employee and employer regarding weekly working hours, the legally prescribed 20 working hours per week apply to on-call employees, which must also be remunerated. This was decided by the Federal Labor Court on October 18 in a landmark ruling (5 AZR 22/23). A call-off worker from North Rhine-Westphalia had demanded back pay after she had been employed for fewer hours.
On October 11, 2023, the Federal Cabinet approved new social security calculation figures for 2024. This will adjust the relevant calculation parameters. Subject to the approval of the Bundesrat, new contribution assessment limits will therefore apply from January 2024. We have documented these in a table for West Germany and a table for East Germany: Social security calculation figures in West Germany Calculation figures from 2024 in West Germany
The Higher Labor Court of Lower Saxony has clarified that the misuse of an official fuel card for private purposes justifies termination without notice without prior warning (judgment of 29.03.2023, Ref.: 2 Sa 313/22). The competent judges found a significant breach of work duties, which makes a warning unnecessary. If an employee fills up his private vehicle with a fuel card provided by his employer
If an employee persistently refuses to work, this can justify dismissal with notice. The Cologne Regional Labour Court (LAG) made a fundamental ruling on this in the case of a forwarding agent who repeatedly failed to follow instructions from his superior (judgement of 09.07.2015 - 7 Sa 144/15). If an employee is absent from work without an excuse and refuses to follow the lawful instructions of his superior,
Can companies use video recordings to prove working time fraud? This is possible under certain circumstances, the Federal Labor Court ruled in a much-noticed judgment (judgment of 29 June 2023, ref. 2 AZR 296/22). As the recordings in this case documented working time fraud, there was no prohibition on exploitation. For an employee who has been working in a large metalworking company since 1995
