News & Stories

Offenbach. Settlement pay following termination of employment results in the employee being unable to draw employment benefit for a period following dismissal. Where the employee reaches a settlement during proceedings for unfair dismissal, however, this is not the case. Details from recent judgements in German employment law.

Koblenz. Small public houses in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate may  for the time being - once again allow their guests to smoke. This was the judgement delivered by the State Constitutional Court last Monday. Nevertheless, the reprieve applies only to very small pubs.

Berlin. On January 1, 2008, the new non-smoking regulation came into force in Germany. The new regulation prohibits smoking in hotels and restaurants, whereas the federal states implement the new law in different ways. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association is taking legal action against this statutory ban on smoking.

Mainz. Times in which job applicants have nerves before the interview are, with the introduction of the Equal Treatment Act one year ago, now well and truly over. The new Act has given rise to a whole range of new tricksters who turn up to interviews only later to issue claims for damages on their not being employed. AGG hop-pers are on the move.

Duesseldorf. A shareholder of NewGen plc has instituted legal proceedings against two of the decisions taken at the extraordinary shareholders meeting on 28 February 2007.

Offenbach. In a recent judgement, the German Federal Labour has prevented a further abuse of the Protection from Unfair Dismissal Act. In a recently decided case, an employee had attempted to have a dismissal declared void by way of application to the court for equal treatment with a severely disabled employee.