The Federal Labour Court has confirmed on several occasions how important it is for employers to fulfil their obligations by actively ensuring that employees use their annual holiday leave before it expires. In our new podcast, Julia Prokop and Dr Philipp Deuchler, who both work in employment law, talk about employees’ holiday entitlement. They address the issue of when and under what conditions holiday leave expires and what role is played by the obligation on employers to take appropriate steps in this respect, as "created" by the European Court of Justice in 2018.

It is not just since ESG reporting became mandatory that ESG has topped the agenda for many companies. In our latest podcast, our employment lawyers Julia Prokop and Dr Inka Knappertsbusch join with Juliane Hensel, Senior Corporate Responsibility Manager at CMS Germany, to discuss the employment law challenges around implementing ESG targets in companies. During the discussion, Juliane Hensel also reports on her practical experience of doing this at CMS Germany. In the "Update Gesell­schaft­s­recht" podcast, Dr Daniel Otte and Carola Kürten report on "ESG-An­for­der­ungen für Unternehmen".

Our new “Einfach Arbeitsrecht” podcast deals with the 4-day week. Julia Prokop and Inka Knappertsbusch have as their guest Gregor Kalchthaler, CEO of INTRAPRENÖR, who shares his practical experience and insights into the 4-day week. They also discuss the legal hurdles that need to be considered when introducing a 4-day week. What are the benefits for employers and employees, and how can modern working time models shape the future?

The number of skilled workers is shrinking in Germany. The new Skilled Workers Immigration Act (Fach­kräftee­in­wan­der­ungs­ge­setz) aims to make it easier and quicker to deploy skilled workers from abroad in Germany. In our new “Einfach Arbeitsrecht” podcast, Julia Prokop and Julia Tänzler-Motzek, both lawyers in the Employment practice, address matters such as the difference between a shortage of skilled workers and a general labour shortage, discuss the regulations applicable to date and look at the impact of the modernised Shortage of Skilled Workers Act (Fach­kräfte­m­an­gel­ge­setz). They also examine the EU Blue Card and the German “Chan­cen­k­arte” (Opportunity Card) as special forms of residence permit, and take a look at the requirements for immigration of skilled workers.

In September 2022, the German Federal Employment Court ruled that employers are obliged to record working hours. A draft bill has now been introduced by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) that seeks to clarify the outstanding issues around the recording of working hours. In this new podcast in the “Employment law made simple” series, Julia Prokop and Dr Alexander Bissels, both from the Employment practice, discuss the provisions contained in the much anticipated draft and consider where amendments may be needed.

(Almost) Every company director has a service contract. Both corporate law and employment law aspects need to be considered when drafting such contracts. In this special crossover podcast, Dr Daniel Otte, a partner in the Corporate/M&A practice, and Julia Prokop, an employment lawyer, jointly look at whether a director is considered to be an employee. This requires paying particular attention when designing the service contract and considering which court has jurisdiction in the event of a dispute between the director and the limited company (GmbH). 

Munich – Headway Capital Partners and other shareholders have sold a majority interest in office people Per­son­al­man­age­ment GmbH, Münster, to H.I.G. Capital, LLC (H.I.G.). H.I.G. is a global private...

The possible applications for the AI-based chatbot ChatGPT seem endless. In addition to creating business correspondence and official documents, it can be used as a research tool, for automatic data analysis or in HR. In our new podcast, Dr Martin Gerecke, a partner in the TMC prac­tice, and lawyers Julia Prokop and Dr Inka Knap­perts­busch from the Em­ploy­ment prac­tice explain which aspects of employment and copyright law businesses need to consider when using ChatGPT.

In a new “Einfach Arbeitsrecht” podcast, Kira Falter, Julia Prokop and Dr Inka Knap­perts­busch look back on 2022 from an employment law viewpoint. They also look ahead to the main legislative proposals in 2023, from electronic sick notes through the Whistleblower Protection Act to the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.

Many companies are facing a major challenge following the high-profile decision by the German Federal Employment Court on recording working hours. One thing is certain after this ruling: the obligation to record working hours is coming, and without any transition period. What did the Federal Employment Court specifically establish, and what does this mean? How will the decision affect trust-based working hours? Does the obligation to record working hours apply to all em­ploy­ees? Ju­lia Prokop and Dr Alexander Bissels provide answers to key questions around recording working hours in our new “Employment law made simple” podcast.

Postings to other countries are on the rise again. More and more companies are also enabling their employees to work abroad remotely. But what is the legal situation if the employee works from abroad, for example as a cross-border commuter in a neighbouring country? In our new “Employment law made simple” podcast, Julia Prokop and Ju­lia Tän­z­ler-Motzek deal with topical questions around employing workers in other countries.

Diversity matters. Yet companies in Germany are clearly struggling to achieve greater diversity in management positions. Politicians are increasingly using gender quotas to address these shortcomings. Other countries, meanwhile, are further ahead and already considering additional diversity criteria. Julia Prokop, Sören Seidel and Kristina Walter discuss the latest political developments in Germany and beyond. They also talk about the legal options and constraints when using surveys to assess diversity in companies and how to implement di­versity-re­lated affirmative action in a legally compliant manner.