News & Stories

Offenbach. A recent judgement from the Federal Labour Court has caught German employers on the back foot: The Court held age-specific allocation of holiday entitlement to be in breach of the German Equal Treatment Act. The Court set out its reasoning in a judgement from March 2012. Rules applied by the hotel industry differ across Germany's federal states; Mecklenburg Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt must now act in response to the judgement.

Bonn. The German Federal Cartel Office activated an electronic system for the acceptance of anonymous tips on cartel offences last week.

Munich. It is the nightmare of every hotelier: The hotel slips into the red over a longer period of time and ultimately becomes insolvent. The final result is almost always a forced sale and the "end" for both company and staff alike. This is now set to change with the new German Insolvency Act. In order to encourage entrepreneurs to take recourse to the administrative courts before it's too late, the amendment makes a number of changes to insolvency law as it currently stands. Accordingly, the focus has been shifted away from liquidation and towards restructuring. Yet despite these changes, the amendment is powerless to remove the stigma of failure, nor can it do anything to improve the competence of managers.

Offenbach. Nothing in the field of work is so often disputed as the contents of the employee reference. The main point of argument is often whether the contents of the reference contain a latent code which tells the head of personnel at the next company something different to that which is understood at first reading. The German Federal Labour Court recently took another look at this issue.

Offenbach. The "Emmely" case, which involved a supermarket checkout lady and the theft of a credit token worth EUR 1.30, was the subject of heated discussion in Germany, even amongst academic lawyers. The judgment handed down by the Federal Labour Court last year held in favour of the checkout lady. Now, in a new and apparently very similar case, the Court has decided differently: The Court held that manipulation of working time records by the employee would justify the employer in terminating the employment relationship without first issuing a warning.

Offenbach. For the first time since 2002, the compensation levy for severely disabled workers has been increased in Germany. Employers must note the end of March in their diaries.

Vienna. The activities of Carinthian Hypo Alpe Adria and Kaerntner Landesholding between 2005 and 2008 are currently keeping courts and political commissions of inquiry busy on various levels.

Offenbach. Employees who are ill over long periods of time can no longer collect their holiday entitlement over the entire period. A recent judgement has created legal certainty for the time being. According to the decision, the period over which holiday entitlements accumulate is now limited to 15 months. Nevertheless, there is still some uncertainty, as the Federal Labour Court and the European Court of Justice have still to decide on the issue.

Hamburg. Hotel ratings remain permitted. Hotel groups cannot seek an injunction to prevent ratings being posted. This was the decision handed down by the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg on Wednesday. The decision came as a further victory for HolidayCheck against A&O hotels.

Strasbourg/Paris. "I don’t know what you are talking about.” That was the first answer from Regis Bulot, while he was interrogated by the police of Strasbourg about the fraud case he is accused of. One day after, obviously failing under pressure, the former president of Relais & Chateaux, eventually confessed, being at the basis of a lucrative corruption scheme which he benefited from during 6 years.