Dear Madam or Sir,
our second Newsletter for the year 2013 reviews various decisions by the Federal Labour Court as well as one from the Hessian Higher Labour Court. Practitioners will find these decisions that have ended up before the Federal Labour Court relevant, albeit at least in one case bizarre.
The most unusual of the cases examined here is no doubt the one in which the Federal Labour Court addresses the question as to whether employees can choose their working hours on the basis of the volume of work to be done. The employee who brought the action in this case was of the opinion that 5 1/2 hours a month would suffice to satisfy the provisions of her employment contract. The Federal Labour Court dispelled that illusion. We also examine decisions that deal with company retirement benefits, the criteria for determination of the size of an undertaking and calculation of claims under a social compensation plan of employees approaching retirement as well as cases involving protection against dismissal. Employers are likely to find several of these decisions extremely important.
