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In companies that regularly employ less than ten people (known as ”small businesses”) in Germany, the Unfair Dismissal Protection Act does not apply. Terminations are therefore subject to fewer requirements. However, the fact that the Unfair Dismissal Protection Act does not apply does not mean that terminations in small businesses always go smoothly. Even outside the scope of the act, there are provisions and principles that can render terminations invalid and that employers should therefore be aware of in advance and during the termination process.

What are the common mistakes from an employment law perspective made by US companies operating in Germany?

On 15 October 2024, the Federal Employment Agency updated its Technical Instructions on the Employee Leasing Act (Arbeitnehmerueberlassungsgesetz – AUG). The most serious change concerns the scope of the authorisation requirement under the Employee Leasing Act. The inclusion of employees who work virtually for a company in Germany from abroad will affect employer of record models in particular.

The introduction of two weeks of paid partner leave after the birth of a child is now planned for "early 2024" - after the EU Commission had already initiated infringement proceedings against Germany in September 2022 for failing to implement the corresponding EU directive.
In March 2023, the German Ministry of Family Affairs presented a draft bill that would allow the second, non-birthing parent to take ten days paid leave after the birth. This family start time is intended to create a protective and safe space during the first few days after the birth and at the same time create impetus for the division of tasks between partners with regard to the compatibility of family and career.

The contribution to nursing care insurance already increased on 1 July 2023 (3.4%), while all other contribution rates and the insolvency benefit contribution remain unchanged from previous year. Only the “average additional contribution” to statutory health insurance will rise to 1.7%. The maximum additional employer costs are therefore generally just over EUR 1,500 (monthly, West).

Since Chat-GPT, ClaudeAI, Bard and comparable large language models ("LLMs") are in the spotlight, employees have certainly already come up with the idea of giving these LLMs tasks that they should fulfil themselves as part of their employment relationship. But are employees allowed to do so? What legal aspects need to be considered? Employers would do well to address this issue, regardless of whether they want to prevent AI use, encourage or prescribe it.

The German Whistleblower Protection Act (“Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz”, HinSchG) has finally entered into force.

Severance payments are commonplace in the case of termination of employment contracts by mutual agreement. But what are the right legal steps to take and, above all, what sums should employers expect to pay their employees?

As an employer, you are obliged to issue and submit various certificates at the request of former employees or the Employment Agency. Since 1 January 2023, this is no longer possible in paper form, but electronic transmission via the so-called electronic notification procedure BEA (“Bescheinigungen elektronisch annehmen“, meaning "accept certificates electronically") is mandatory.