Key Aspects of German Employment and Labour Law
Key Aspects of German Employment and Labour Law

Author: Jens Kirchner

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-06-16

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 3642006787

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This publication gives an overview of all key aspects of German labour and employment law as well as adjoining fields. Legal professionals with expert knowledge and many years of experience explain the legal basis of these aspects of German law, point out typical practical problems and suggest solutions to those problems. In addition, examples are given on how to best manage legal pitfalls to minimize risks. This book translates employment and labour law for foreign in-house counsels and human resources managers at international companies and provides a clear understanding of the complex legal regulations in Germany. All three editors of the book, Dr. Jens Kirchner, Pascal R. Kremp and Michael Magotsch, are key legal professionals working at the Frankfurt office of DLA Piper, one of the largest legal services providers in the world (www.dlapiper.com), with national and multinational clients. Their experience includes the management of cross-border restructurings, outsourcing and transfer of undertaking measures, as well as the management of national and multi-jurisdictional merger and acquisitions projects, including post-merger integration processes.

Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Germany
Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Germany

Author: Manfred Weiss

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9041127933

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Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Germany gives the reader a broad understanding of German labour law covering all important aspects. The book deals with the sources of labour law, individual employment relationships, collective bargaining, remuneration, working conditions, and dispute settlement.

The Sources of Labour Law
The Sources of Labour Law

Author: Tamás Gyulavári

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 9403502045

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Labour law has traditionally aimed to protect the employee under a hierarchy built on constitutional provisions, statutory law, collective agreements at various levels, and the employment contract, in that order. However, in employment regulation in recent years, ‘flexibility’ has come to dominate the world of work – a set of policies that reshuffle the relationship among the fundamental pillars of labour law and inevitably lead to degrading the protection of employees. This book, the first-ever to consider the sources of labour law from a comparative perspective, details the ways in which the traditional hierarchy of sources has been altered, presenting an international view on major cross-cutting issues followed by fifteen country reports. The authors’ analysis of the changing hierarchy of labour law sources in the light of recent trends includes such elements as the following: the constitutional dimension of labour rights; the normative intervention by the State; the regulatory function of collective bargaining and agreements; the hierarchical organization of labour law sources and the ‘principle of favour’; the role played by case law in both common law and civil law countries; the impact of the European Economic Governance; decentralization of collective bargaining; employment conditions as key components of global competitive strategies; statutory schemes that allow employees to sign away their rights. National reports – Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States – describe the structure of labour law regulations in each legal system with emphasis on the current state of affairs. The authors, all distinguished labour law scholars in their countries, thus collectively provide a thorough and comprehensive commentary on labour law regulation and recent tendencies in national labour laws in various corners of the globe. With its definitive analysis of such crucial matters as the decentralization of collective bargaining and how individual employment contracts can deviate from collective agreements and statutory law, and its comparison of representative national labour law systems, this highly informative book will prove of inestimable value to all professionals concerned with employment relations, labour disputes, or labour market policy, especially in the context of multinational workforces.

German Employment Law
German Employment Law

Author: Nicole Elert

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 3110302829

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In modern employment practice, the question of who falls under the jurisdiction of German labor law (employees, freelancers, employers, works councils, labor unions, representatives for the disabled, employer’s associations, etc.) is an increasingly salient issue faced by foreign firms and firm owners, human resource, tax, and legal departments, as well as investors and foreign employees. Specifically, many firms have questions concerning the application of German law for establishing, managing, and terminating employment contracts with foreign or German workers within Germany. In this connection, issues frequently arise concerning foreign assignment, residency, and visa law, and an extremely wide range of legal provisions must be taken into account, including the AGG (General Non-Discrimination Act), BetrVG (German Employees Representation Act), Tarifrecht (Collective Bargaining Law), BUrlG (German Federal Leave Act), TzBfG (Part-Time Work and Fixed-Term Employment Act), AÜG (Employee Transfer Act), BDSG (German Federal Data Protection Act), KSchG (German Protection Against Dismissal Act), EntgeltfortzahlungsG (Continued Remuneration Act), GewO (German Industrial Code), and MutterschutzG (Maternity Protection Act). Beyond this, secondary questions related to income tax law, international taxation, and social security law may arise. Against this complex backdrop, the present work intends to answer questions most frequently asked by foreigners when dealing with German employment law.

The Future of Work
The Future of Work

Author: Adalberto Perulli

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2020-12-10

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9403528613

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Studies in Employment and Social Policy Volume 56 Digitalization, far from being solely a technological issue, has broad implications in the social, labour, and economic spheres. It leads to dangers as well as to new chances for the workforce, and thus labour law must develop effective ways to both protect workers and allow them to profit from new technological developments. The most thorough book of its kind, this collection of expert essays provides an abundance of well-thought-out material for understanding the consequences of digitalization for the labour market and industrial relations. Recognizing that only an international perspective can make it possible to face the challenges of the present (and the future), renowned authorities from the International Labour Organization and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law, as well as outstanding labour law professors, examine in depth such salient issues as the following: transformation of production systems; the spread of artificial intelligence; precariousness and exploitation in the gig economy; lessons learned from COVID-19; employment status of platform workers; new cross-border issues; rights to trade union association and collective bargaining; role of the State in the new digital labour market; and blurred lines between work and private life. Thanks to the international team of contributors, the issues are dealt with from a variety of overlapping perspectives and points of view, combining aspects of labour law, commercial law, corporate governance, and international law. Highlighting the need to adapt, especially through the right to training, work, and professionalism with respect to the new technological landscape, the book draws on legislative, judicial, and theoretical initiatives suggesting ways of responding positively to the requests for protection that arise in the new forms of production. A uniquely valuable tool for study and reflection for policymakers and academics, the book is also sure to be valued by entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, corporate lawyers, judges, human rights experts, and trade unionists who are interested in the issues of labour, industrial relations, and social rights in European and international contexts.

Collective Bargaining for Self-Employed Workers in Europe
Collective Bargaining for Self-Employed Workers in Europe

Author: Bernd Waas

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9403523743

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Collective Bargaining for Self-Employed Workers in Europe Approaches to Reconcile Competition Law and Labour Rights Founding Editor: Roger Blanpain General Editor: Frank Hendrickx Edited by Bernd Waas & Christina Hießl The increase in the number of self-employed workers, partially in response to the advent of the platform economy, has raised the spectre of horizontal price-fixing by self-employed members of a profession. This perception, however, is at odds with international labour standards, under which self-employed persons should also be able to conclude collective agreements to some extent. It is now commonplace for companies to offer various forms of non-standard employment that shift risk from the labour engager to the labour provider – which may increase the likelihood of those workers to fall outside the legal concept of ‘employee’ and because of that affects their legal protection. Legal practitioners may then face a dilemma: what may be required under labour law may be prohibited under antitrust law. In the first comprehensive analysis of these intensely debated issues, the authors argue that there is an urgent need to address the current legal puzzle, including through regulatory measures. This must include, in particular, the existing regulation at the level of the European Union (EU), which dominates competition law in the Member States. The book combines an analysis of the supranational framework by experts in labour law as well as competition law with in-depth country reports from Member States of the EU in which regulations and/or practices of collective bargaining for the self-employed exist. Among the many issues discussed in this book are the following: collective bargaining and international labour rights; self-employed individuals and the concept of undertaking in EU competition law; the concept of ‘social dumping’; the importance of the case law of the European Court of Justice; the concept of ‘vulnerability’; competition authorities’ enforcement strategies and priorities; the concept of ‘false self-employed’; and the possible introduction of exemptions, presumptions, safe harbours, or smart regulation solutions in competition law. The book gives an insight into the legal situation in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. These reports discuss the current practice of collective bargaining and how the current law is reflected in the academic discourse on the right of self-employed people to bargain collectively. This important book, in its presentation of legally sound and effective ways to shape the application of the right to bargain collectively that are attuned to the business and technological realities of the twenty-first century, promotes an understanding of the consequences for current law and practice and offers a basis for a discussion of regulatory measures addressing existing challenges. Practitioners of labour law and competition law, national competition authorities, and other interested parties will benefit from the detailed analysis and extensive findings.

Job Security in America
Job Security in America

Author: Katharine G. Abraham

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13:

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With the onset of the recession in 1990, job security has moved to the forefront of labor market concerns in the United States. During economic downturns, American employers rely heavily on layoffs to cut their work force, much more than do their counterparts in other industrialized nations. The hardships imposed by these layoffs have led many to ask whether U.S. workers can be offered more secure employment without burdening the companies that employ them. In this book, Katharine Abraham and Susan Houseman address this question by comparing labor adjustment practices in the United States, where existing policies arguably encourage layoffs, with those in Germany, a country with much stronger job protection for workers. From their assessment of the German experience, the authors recommend new public policies that promote alternatives to layoffs and help reduce unemployment. Beginning with an overview of the labor markets in Germany and the United States, Abraham and Houseman emphasize the interaction of various government policies. Stronger job security in Germany has been accompanied by an unemployment insurance system that facilitates short-time work as a substitute for layoffs. In the United States, however, the unemployment insurance system has encouraged layoffs and discouraged the use of work-sharing schemes. The authors examine the effects of job security on the efficiency and equity of labor market adjustment and review trends in U.S. policy. Finally, the authors recommend reforms of the U.S. unemployment insurance system that include stronger experience rating and an expansion of short-time compensation program. They also point to the critical link between job security and the system of worker training in Germany and advocate policies that would encourage more training by U.S. companies.

Employment Relations in the 21st Century
Employment Relations in the 21st Century

Author: Valeria Pulignano

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2019-11-07

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9403518200

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It cannot be denied that in recent decades, for many if not most people, work has become unstable and insecure, with serious risk and few benefits for workers. As this reality spills over into political and social life, it is crucial to interrogate the transformations affecting employment relations, shape research agendas, and influence the policies of national and international institutions. This single volume brings together thirty-nine scholars (both academics and experienced industrial relations actors) in the fields of employment relations and labour law in a forthright discussion of new approaches, theories, and methods aimed at ameliorating the world of work. Focusing on why and how work is changing, how collective actors deal with it, and the future of work from different disciplinary angles and at an international level, the contributors describe and analyse such issues and topics as the following: new forms of social protection and representation; differences in the power relations of workers and political dynamics; balancing protection of workers’ dignity and promotion of productivity; intersection of information technology and workplace regulation; how the gig economy undermines legal protections; role of professional and trade associations; workplace conflict management; lay judges in labour courts; undeclared work in the informal sector of the labour market; work incapacity and disability; (in)coherence of the work-related case law of the European Court of Justice; and business restructurings. Derived from a major conference held in Leuven in September 2018, the book offers an in-depth understanding of the changing world of work, its main transformations, and the challenges posed to classical employment relations theories and methods as well as to labour law. With its wide range of insights, analysis, and reflection, this unique contribution to the study of industrial relations offers an authoritative reference guide to scholars, policymakers, trade unions and business associations, human resources professionals, and practitioners who need to deal with the future of work challenges.

Labour and Employment Compliance in Germany
Labour and Employment Compliance in Germany

Author: Gerlind Wisskirchen

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2019-09-29

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9403515422

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Detailed attention to compliance with labour and employment laws is crucial for success in setting up business in a foreign country. This book – one of a series derived from Kluwer’s matchless publication International Labour and Employment Compliance Handbook – focuses on the relevant laws and regulations in Germany. It is thoroughly practical in orientation. Employers and their counsel can be assured that it fulfills the need for accurate and detailed knowledge of laws in Germany on all aspects of employment, from recruiting to termination, working conditions, compensation and benefits to collective bargaining. The volume proceeds in a logical sequence through such topics as the following: • written and oral contracts • interviewing and screening • evaluations and warnings • severance pay • reductions in force • temporary workers • trade union rights • wage and hour laws • employee benefits • workers’ compensation • safety and environmental regulations • immigration law compliance • restrictive covenants • anti-discrimination laws • employee privacy rights • dispute resolution • recordkeeping requirements A wealth of practical features such as checklists of do’s and don’ts, step-by-step compliance measures, applicable fines and penalties, and much more contribute to the book’s day-to-day usefulness. Easy to understand for lawyers and non-lawyers alike, this book is sure to be welcomed by business executives and human resources professionals, as well as by corporate counsel and business lawyers.

Rethinking Workplace Regulation
Rethinking Workplace Regulation

Author: Katherine V.W. Stone

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 2013-02-14

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 1610448030

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During the middle third of the 20th century, workers in most industrialized countries secured a substantial measure of job security, whether through legislation, contract or social practice. This “standard employment contract,” as it was known, became the foundation of an impressive array of rights and entitlements, including social insurance and pensions, protection against unsociable working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively. Recent changes in technology and the global economy, however, have dramatically eroded this traditional form of employment. Employers now value flexibility over stability, and increasingly hire employees for short-term or temporary work. Many countries have also repealed labor laws, relaxed employee protections, and reduced state-provided benefits. As the old system of worker protection declines, how can labor regulation be improved to protect workers? In Rethinking Workplace Regulation, nineteen leading scholars from ten countries and half a dozen disciplines present a sweeping tour of the latest policy experiments across the world that attempt to balance worker security and the new flexible employment paradigm. Edited by noted socio-legal scholars Katherine V.W. Stone and Harry Arthurs, Rethinking Workplace Regulation presents case studies on new forms of dispute resolution, job training programs, social insurance and collective representation that could serve as policy models in the contemporary industrialized world. The volume leads with an intriguing set of essays on legal attempts to update the employment contract. For example, Bruno Caruso reports on efforts in the European Union to “constitutionalize” employment and other contracts to better preserve protective principles for workers and to extend their legal impact. The volume then turns to the field of labor relations, where promising regulatory strategies have emerged. Sociologist Jelle Visser offers a fresh assessment of the Dutch version of the ‘flexicurity’ model, which attempts to balance the rise in nonstandard employment with improved social protection by indexing the minimum wage and strengthening rights of access to health insurance, pensions, and training. Sociologist Ida Regalia provides an engaging account of experimental local and regional “pacts” in Italy and France that allow several employers to share temporary workers, thereby providing workers job security within the group rather than with an individual firm. The volume also illustrates the power of governments to influence labor market institutions. Legal scholars John Howe and Michael Rawling discuss Australia's innovative legislation on supply chains that holds companies at the top of the supply chain responsible for employment law violations of their subcontractors. Contributors also analyze ways in which more general social policy is being renegotiated in light of the changing nature of work. Kendra Strauss, a geographer, offers a wide-ranging comparative analysis of pension systems and calls for a new model that offers “flexible pensions for flexible workers.” With its ambitious scope and broad inquiry, Rethinking Workplace Regulation illustrates the diverse innovations countries have developed to confront the policy challenges created by the changing nature of work. The experiments evaluated in this volume will provide inspiration and instruction for policymakers and advocates seeking to improve worker’s lives in this latest era of global capitalism.