Littler International Guide - Germany
- Publisher:
- Littler Mendelson
- Publication date:
- 2023-08-04
About the Authors
Disclaimer / Acknowledgements / Notices
§ 1 Overview of Employment & Labor Laws
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 1.1 -What are the primary constitutional provisions, statutes, and regulations related to employment?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 1.2 -What are the primary mechanisms for enforcement?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 1.3 -What are the primary means for resolving disputes between employees and employers?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 1.4 -What are the most important characteristics of the legal culture relating to employment?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 1.5 -What are the five most common mistakes foreign employers make and what can be done to help avoid them?
§ 2 Hiring
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.1 -What are the definitions of employee, employer, independent contractor, and contingent worker (i.e., a temporary or agency worker)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.2 -What are the consequences of misclassifying a worker as an independent contractor, contingent worker, or temporary worker?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.3 -Does your jurisdiction allow or prohibit outsourcing? If allowed, what are an employer's obligations to avoid liability?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.4 -What rules apply to background checks?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.5 -What rules apply to medical examinations or health-related tests?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.6 -May an employer require drug and alcohol testing?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.7 -Are there mandated preferences in hiring?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.8 -Are there any rules regarding inquiry into an applicant's salary history or prior compensation? Are there any requirements related to employers disclosing the salary range for open positions?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.9 -Are there restrictions on filling openings with contingent workers?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.10 -Must a foreign employer set up a local entity to employ local workers, and if so, what are the requirements?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 2.11 -What rules apply to the employment of foreign nationals? How much time should an employer allow to obtain the required work authorization documents?
§ 3 .Employment Contracts
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.1 -Are written employment contracts required for certain employees?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.2 -What terms are required in employment contracts (if any)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.3 -In what language(s) must employment contracts be written?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.4 -What rules exist relating to the duration of employment contracts?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.5 -Are probationary periods allowed, and if so, what restrictions apply?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 3.6 -Do employment contracts customarily contain covenants to safeguard the employer's intellectual property, covenants not to compete, and/or agreements not to solicit the employer's customers or employees?
§ 4 Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.1 -What prohibitions against discrimination exist, and how are they defined (e.g., what are the specific protected categories)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.2 -What prohibitions exist against religious discrimination, and what accommodations of religious practices are required of the employer?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.3 -What prohibitions exist against disability discrimination, and what accommodations of disabilities are required of the employer?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.4 -What prohibitions are there against harassment?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.5 -What exceptions are permitted to the prohibitions against discrimination (e.g., job requirements that mandate hiring candidates of a certain age or gender, or quotas to address past discrimination)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.6 -What prohibitions exist regarding retaliation/reprisal?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.7 -May individual persons be liable for discrimination, harassment, or retaliation/reprisal?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.8 -Are employers required to investigate allegations of sexual harassment from employees?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 4.9 -Are employees required to provide antiharassment/antiretaliation training to their workers?
§ 5 Compensation
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.1 -What restrictions are there on hours that may be worked?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.2 -What minimum wage requirements exist?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.3 -What is the required schedule for paying wages, and in what form and currency must they be paid?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.4 -What overtime pay requirements exist?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.5 -What bonuses are mandated or customary?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 5.6 -Are there any rules related to pay equity or pay transparency?
§ 6 Time Off From Work
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.1 -What public, statutory, or national holidays are required, and what are the requirements if employees work on such holidays?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.2 -What are the requirements for short-term sick pay, and who pays it?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.3 -What are the requirements for paid vacation or annual leave?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.4 -What requirements exist for paid or unpaid maternity and paternity leave?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.5 -What requirements are there for new mothers (e.g., part-time work, breaks for breast feeding or day care)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.6 -What requirements exist for paid or unpaid medical leaves of absence?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 6.7 -What other paid or unpaid leaves of absence must be provided by employers?
§ 9 Privacy & Protection of Employee Personal Information
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 9.1 -What rules regulate an employer's obligation to protect the privacy of personal data about employees, and what is the scope of the employees protection(s)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 9.2 -What information must the employer provide to employees before processing (e.g., collecting, storing, using, disclosing, etc.) their personal data, and what are the potential consequences for failure to comply?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 9.3 -What restrictions apply to an employer's export of its employees personal data to related companies in the United States?
§ 10 Representation of Workers, Trade Unions & Works Councils
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 10.1 -Do workers have a freedom of association and representation?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 10.2 -Does the law require workers to be a member of a trade union, and/or require the employer to establish a works council?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 10.3 -How do workers obtain trade union representation?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 10.4 -Does the law permit picketing, strikes, lockouts, and/or secondary action?
§ 12 Termination of Employment
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.1 -What grounds for dismissal/termination of contract are permitted?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.2 -What grounds for dismissal/termination of contract are prohibited?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.3 -What notice requirements are there for dismissal and may the employer provide pay in lieu of notice?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.4 -How is termination pay calculated, including any commissions, and when must it be paid?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.5 -Are there rights to severance pay and how is severance calculated?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.6 -How can former employees bring claims on behalf of other workers (i.e., a collective or class action)?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.7 -May employers compel employees to arbitrate claims of wrongful dismissal?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.8 -Can an employer obtain a release of claims from a former employee?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 12.9 -What procedures and terms are required to have an enforceable separation agreement with a former employee?
§ 13 Collective Dismissals (Layoffs) & Business Cessation
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 13.1 -What rules apply to collective dismissals?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 13.2 -Are there special rules that apply when an employer ceases operations?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 13.3 -Are certain employees protected from collective dismissal?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 13.4 -How long does the collective dismissal process usually take?
§ 14 Employment & Sale of a Business
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.1 -In the sale of a business's stocks (shares), what (if anything) does corporate law or labor/employment law require of the seller as to pre-deal-closing notification to, or consultation with, the seller's employees, employee representatives, or government labor agencies?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.2 -Regarding seller's employees, what (if any) mandates does the law impose on a seller contemplating a stock (shares) sale of its business?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.3 -In a sale of a business's assets, do the seller's employees transfer to the buyer by operation of law?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.4 -Where a seller of business assets does not intend to employ its staff after closing the asset sale, does the law allow the parties to the asset sale to structure an “employer substitution” or mandatory transfer so as to avoid triggering severance pay obligations for the asset seller?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.5 -How do parties best structure those employer substitutions/transfers? Can they be structured without employee consent?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.6 -In the sale of a business's assets, what (if anything) does corporate law or labor/employment law require of the seller as to pre-deal-closing notification to, or consultation with, employees, employee representatives, or government labor agencies?
- Littler Int'l Guide - Germany § 14.8 -Before a buyer consummates either a stock (shares) or asset purchase of another business that has its own, separate workforce, what (if anything) does the law expressly require regarding notice to, or consultation with, the buyer's own existing workforce, employee representatives, or with government labor agencies?