Vacation law and overtime hours
In the past ten years, no stone was left standing in German vacation law; this was ensured collaboratively by CJEU and BAG (the German Federal Labor Court). Certainties, having been true for decades, have been reversed. Starting with the new regulations regarding the lapse of vacation in the event of sickness, to the abandonment of the “surrogate” theory, which inevitably needed to be followed by the inheritance of vacation entitlements, through to the last coup: the employer’s duty to give notice. Precisely this ruling will lead to an enormous administrative burden on the part of the employer. Because the BAG asserted that the employer has the duty to inform every employee in writing on his vacation entitlements and the possible lapse of the same. And he has to do so year after year again.
But there is also a silver lining, for example, the clarification that during the exemption phase of partial retirement no vacation days can be accumulated. However, the overall legal position of the employers deteriorates more and more.
In general, it can be observed that more and more courts consider the employer as such to be uncapable to take care of his own affairs. Recently, a colleague of mine spoke of “helicopter courts”. Frankly speaking, we a really not very far from it anymore.
