News of Atypical Work in Germany: Recent developments as to fixed-term contracts, temporary and part-time work

German Law Journal

Volumn 3, Issue 7, 2002, Pages

  Schmidt, Marlene ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84922693548     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20718322     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S2071832200015182     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (88)

1. BGBl. I, 710.
2. BGBl. I, 1966.
3. Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, OJ 1998, L 14/9; cf. Barnard, EC Employment and Labour Law, 2 ed. Oxford 2000, 429-432; Nielsen, European Labour Law, Copenhagen 2000, 151-153; Jeffery, Not Really Going to Work? Of the Directive on Part-Time Work, ‘Atypical Work' and Attempts to Regulate it, ILJ 1998, 193; Marlene Schmidt, Die neue EG-Richtlinie über Teilzeitarbeit, NZA 1998, 576; Treber, Sozialer Dialog in der Europäischen Union und Gleichbehandlung bei Teilzeitarbeit, ZTR 1998, 250; as regards the Framework Agreement cf. Blanpain, European Labour Law, 7 ed. Den Hague 2000, 268-270; Part-time workers equal rights agreement, EOR 1997, 37; Kreimer-de Fries, EU-Teilzeitvereinbarung – kein gutes Omen für die Zukunft der europäischen Verhandlungsebenen, ArbuR 1997, 314.
4. Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agree-ment on fixed-term contracts concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP, OJ 1999, L 145/43, corrected OJ 1999, L 244/64; cf. Röthel, Europäische Rechtsetzung im sozialen Dialog, Zur Richtlinie 1999/70/EG über befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse, NZA 2000, 65; Marlene Schmidt, Das Arbeitsrecht der Europäischen Gemein-schaft, Baden-Baden 2001, paras. 384-398; as to the draft directive cf. Murray, Normalising Temporary Work, The Proposed Directive on Fixed-Term Work, ILJ 1999, 269; Wank/Börgmann, Der Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie des Rates über be-fristete Arbeitsverträge, RdA 1999, 383; as to the framework agreement cf. Blan-pain, The European Agreement on Fixed-term Contracts and Belgian Law, IJCLLIR 1999, 85; Weiss, The Framework Agreement on Fixed-term Work: A Ger-man Point of View, IJCLLIR 1999, 97; Tiraboschi, Glancing at the Past: An Agreement for the Markets of the XXIst Century, IJCLLIR 1999, 105; Lorber, Regulating Fixed-Term Work in the United Kingdom: A Positive Step towards Workers' Protection? IJCLLIR 1999, 121.
5. Both directives only provide minimum standards, cf. Clause 6 no. 1 of the Framework Agreement in Directive 97/81/EC and Clause 8 no. 1 of the Frame-work Agreement in Directive 99/70/EC, both explicitly allowing Member States and/or social partners to maintain or introduce more favourable provisions than set out in the respective agreement.
6. The acronym AQTIV stands for aktivieren (to activate), qualifizieren (to qualify), trainieren (to train), investieren (to invest) and vermitteln (to place s.o.)
7. Cf. the Commission's proposal of 20 March 2002 for a Directive on the working conditions of temporary workers, COM (2002) 149 final.
8. Of 18 August 1896, RBGl. p. 195.
9. As to the rules of dismissal protection in Germany today cf. Manfred Weiss/Marlene Schmidt, Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Germany, Klu-wer, 3rd ed., The Hague 2000, paras. 218-260.
10. The Betriebsrätegesetz (BRG - Works Councils' Act) of 4 Feb. 1920, RBGl. p. 147, contained first provisions of general dismissal protection.
11. See, fundamentally Reicharbeitsgericht (RAG - Reich Labour Court), dec. of 19 May 1928, RAGE 1, 361 (363); confirmed in the dec. of 28 Nov. 1930, RAGE 7, 93 (96). These decisions, however, dealt with consecutive fixed-term contracts. Contrary to today, the RAG moreover required the em-ployer's intention to circumvent dismissal protection.
12. Fundamentally GS Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG – Federal Labour Court), dec. of 12.10.1960, AP no. 16 § 620 BGB Befristeter Arbeitsvertrag; more recently BAG, dec. of 21 Feb. 2001, AP no. 226 § 620 BGB Befristeter Arbeitsvertrag; dec. of 22 March 2000, AP no. 222 § 620 BGB Befristeter Arbeitsvertrag.
13. See e.g. Kempen, Arbeitnehmerschutz, Tarifverträge und Beschäftigungsförderungsgesetz, ArbuR 1985, 374; Mückenberger, Der verfas-sungsrechtliche Schutz des Dauerarbeitsverhältnisses, NZA 1985, 518.
14. Sec. 1 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 1 BeSchFG. A new employment within the mean-ing of sec. 1 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 1 BeschFG is, according to sec. 1 para. 1 sen-tence 2 BeschFG not given, if there is a close objective link to a preceeding em-ployment contract, be it of limited or of unlimited duration, with the same em-ployer. Such a close objective connection was, in accordance with sec. 1 para. 1 sentence 3 BeSchFG, in particular to be assumed if less then four months have passed since the preceeding employment contract.
15. Provided that the former trainee can be employed only temporarily because there is no permanent job available, sec. 1 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 2 BeschFG.
16. Sec. 1 para. 2 BeschFG.
17. BT-Drs. 10/2102, p. 15.
18. Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union.
19. Free Democratic Party.
20. Article 2 of the Act of 26 July 1994, BGBl. I, 1786.
21. Article 4 of the Act of 25 September 1996, BGBl. I, 1476.
22. Section 1 para. 1 BeschFG as amended.
23. As under the BeschFG in its initial version, such a close objective connection was, in accordance with sec. 1 para. 3 sentence 2 BeSchFG, in particular to be as-sumed if less then four months have passed since the preceeding employment contract.
24. As a consequence, sec. 5-7 of the Act on Dismissal Protection are analogously applicable; cf. sec. 1 para. 5 sentence 2 BeschFG as amended.
25. Whether or not the 1985 Act contributed to a reduction of unemployment is still subject of controversy; cf. Bielenski, Deregulierung des Rechts befristeter Ar-beitsverträge, WSI-Mitteilungen 1997, 532.
26. If the BeschFG is not applicable, only the first six months of an employment re-lationship can be used as a time of probation. For the Kündigungsschutzgesetz (KSchG - Act on Dismissal Protection) is, according to its sec. 1, applicable only to dismissals of employees who have been continuously employed for more than six months. Cf. Dütz, Arbeitsrecht, 6 ed., München 2001, para. 127.
27. Bielenski, WSI-Mitteilungen 1997, 532 (533 seq.) with further proofs.
28. Social Democratic Party.
29. Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN.
30. BR-Drs. 591/00 = BT-Drs. 14/4373.
31. As to this so-called right to part-time work cf. below, paras. 27-33.
32. Directive 1999/70/EC only ‘implements' an agreement between the European social partners, i.e. the Directive itself mainly puts into effect the framework agreement containing the substantial provisions on fixed-term contracts. This unique and highly debatable practice is provided for in Article 138 seq. of the EC-Treaty as amended in Amsterdam. For a critique cf. Britz/Schmidt, The Institu-tionalised Participation of Management and Labour in the Legislative Activities of the European Community: A Challenge to the Principle of Democracy under Community Law, ELJ 2000, 45, with further proofs.
33. Employment contracts concluded under a dissolving condition (auflösend bedingter Arbeitsvertrag) do not fall under this definition. To them, however, sec. 4 para. 2, 5, 14 para. 1 and para. 4, 15 para. 2, para. 3, and para. 5 as well as sec. 16-20 apply, according to sec. 21 TzBfG, analogously.
34. Article 2 of the Act of 30 March 2000 Simplifying and Accelerating the Labour Court Procedure, BGBl. I, 333.
35. Sec. 14 para. 1 nos. 1-8 TzBfG only gives examples. Hence, the courts are not prevented from developing other categories of justifying reasons. Wank, Münch-ener Handbuch Arbeitsrecht (MüHdbArbR), Ergänzungsband, Individualarbeits-recht, 2nd ed., München 2001, § 116 para. 161.
36. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, Kündigungsschutzrecht, Kommentar, 5 ed., Köln 2001, § 14 TzBfG para. 158.
37. Wank, MüHdbArbR, § 116 paras. 7, 63.
38. Cf. 1, 23 para. 1 Act on Dismissal Protection.
39. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 14 TzBfG para. 7; Bezani/Müller, Das Gesetz über Teilzeitarbeit und befristete Arbeitsverträge, DStR 2001, 87 (93); Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 para. 5.
40. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 15 TzBfG para. 146; Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 paras. 186-191. Cf. Bezani/Müller, DStR 2001, 87 (91 seq.).
41. Since they are no members of the parties to the collective agreement.
42. Council Directive of 27 November 2000, OJ 2000, L 303/16.
43. See Weiss, IJCLLIR 1999, 97 (102); Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 14 TzBfG para. 179; disagreeing Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 paras. 209 seq., who thinks that sec. 14 para. 3 TzBfG was more favourable for older employees; disagreeing also Thüsing/Lambrich, Umsetzungsdefizite in § 14 TzBfG? BB 2001, 829, who regard the employee's age as a justifying reason.
44. Cf. Marlene Schmidt/Daniela Senne, Das gemeinschaftsrechtliche Verbot der Altersdiskriminierung und seine Bedeutung für das deutsche Arbeitsrecht, RdA 2002, 80 (86)
45. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 16 TzBfG para. 1; Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 para. 275.
46. Comparable is, according to sec. 3 para. 2 TzBfG, any employee of the same establishment, working on the basis of an employment contract unlimited as to time, employed in the same or a similar activity. If there is no comparable em-ployee in the establishment, working on the basis of an employment contract un-limited as to time, the comparable employee has to be determined with the help of the applicable collective agreement; in all other cases it has to be taken into ac-count who is usually regarded as a comparable employee working on the basis of an employment contract unlimited as to time in the respective branch of the Econ-omy.
47. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 4 TzBfG para. 30; Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 para. 229.
48. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 15 paras. 15 seq.; Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 para. 257.
49. Däubler, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 19 TzBfG para. 2; Wank, MünchHdbArbR, § 116 para. 305.
50. BGBl. I, p. 1393.
51. For details, cf. Weiss/Schmidt, op. cit., paras. 110-112.
52. Arbeitsförderungsreformgesetz (Employment Promotion Reform Act), BGBl. I, 594.
53. Art. 7 of the BeschFG, cf. supra.
54. Article 2 of the Act of 21 Dec. 1993, BGBl. I, 2353.
55. Art. 7 of the Job-AQTIV-Gesetz, BGBl. 2001 I, 3443.
56. Federal Government (ed.), 9th Report on the Experiences with the AÜG, 4 Oct. 2000, BT-Drs. 14/4220, p. 93, tab. 4.
57. BT-Drs. 14/4220, p. 15.
58. As to the legal framework of temporary work cf. Weiss/Schmidt, op. cit., para. 110.
59. Cf. supra, fn. 56.
60. Cf. Düwell, Änderungen im Arbeitsrecht durch das Job-AQTIV-Gesetz, BB 2002, 989; Behrend, Arbeitnehmerüberlassung bis zu 24 Monaten - Job-AQTIV mit Hindernissen, NZA 2002, 372.
61. COM (2002) 149 final.
62. BT-Drs. 10/2102, p. 14.
63. For more detailed information cf. Weiss/Schmidt, op. cit., paras. 104-109.
64. Comparable is, according to sec. 2 para. 1 sentences 3 and 4 TzBfG, any full-time employee of the same establishment in the same kind of employment rela-tionship employed in the same or a similar activity. If there is no comparable full-time employee in the establishment the comparable full-time employee has to be determined with the help of the applicable collective agreement which usually determines the regular working time of full-time employees. If there is no appli-cable collective agreement or if the applicable collective agreement does not de-termine the regular working time it has to be taken into accout who is usually re-garded as a comparable full-time employee in the respective branch of economy.
65. Sec. 4 para. 1 sentence 2 TzBfG.
66. According to sec. 8 para. 1 para. 1 Social Security Code (Sozialgesetzbuch) Part IV, employees working fewer than 15 hours per week and earning not more than 325 € per month are excluded from the statutory systems of health insurance, from the statutory pension scheme including occupational incapacity and total disability insurance, from the statutory unemployment insurance as well as from the statu-tory long-term care insurance.
67. Like Directive 1999/70/EC, Directive 97/81/EC only ‘implements' an agreement between the European social partners. Cf. supra, fn. 32.
68. For more details cf. Buschmann, in: Buschmann/Dieball/Stevens-Bartol, Teil-zeitarbeit, Kommentar für die Praxis, 2nd ed., Köln 2001, § 4 TzBfG paras. 1-45; Schüren, MünchHdbArbR, § 161 paras. 37-116; Zwanziger, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 4 TzBfG paras. 1-29.
69. As to details cf. Buschmann, in: Buschmann/Dieball/Stevens-Bartol, § 8 TzBfG paras. 1-44; Schüren, MünchHdbArbR, § 161 paras. 35-93; Zwanziger, in: Kittner/Däubler/Zwanziger, § 8 TzBfG paras. 1-59; Marlene Schmidt, The Right to Part-Time Work under German Law: Progress in or a Boomerang for Equal Employment Opportunities? ILJ 2001, 335-351.
70. As regards the right to part-time work under Dutch law cf. Waas, Gesetzlicher Anspruch auf Teilzeitarbeit in den Niederlanden, NZA 2000, 583; for a compari-son cf. Jacobs/Schmidt, The Right to Part-Time Work: The Netherlands and Ger-many Compared, IJCLLIR 2001, 371.
71. BT-Drs. 14/4374, 16 seq.
72. Cf. Schiefer, Entwurf eines Gesetzes über Teilzeitarbeit und befristete Arbeits-verhältnisse, DB 2000, 2119; Preis/Gotthardt, Das Teilzeit- und Befristungsge-setz, DB 2001, 147.
73. BT-Drs. 14/4374, 30.
74. This requirement relates to the applicability of the Act on Dismissal Protection; cf. supra, fn. 26.
75. Cf. supra, note. 66.
76. What happens if the 3-months-period is not observed is not regulated in sec. 8 TzBfG. However, in accordance with general rules the request has to be inter-preted as claiming the right to part-time work for the earliest possible point in time. Däubler, Das neue Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz, ZIP 2001, 217 (221); Preis/Gotthardt, DB 2001, 145.
77. BT-Drs. 14/4374, 31.
78. Such a specification, however, is not obligatory. If the employee does not indi-cate when he or she would like to work the distribution of the reduced working time is simply up to managerial discretion. Cf. Preis/Gotthardt, DB 2001, 146.
79. BT-Drs. 14/4374, 31; cf. also Preis/Gotthardt, Neuregelung der Teilzeitarbeit und befristeten Arbeitsverhältnisse, DB 2000, 2068.
80. Däubler, ZIP 2001, 221.
81. Cf. Schmidt, ILJ 2001, 335 (343 seq.).
82. Beckschulze, Die Durchsetzbarkeit des Teilzeitanspruchs in der betrieblichen Praxis, DB 2000, 2598 (2602); Däubler, ZIP 2001, 217 (220); Lindemann/Simon, Neue Regelungen zur Teilzeitarbeit im Gesetz über Teilzeitarbeit und befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse, BB 2001, 146 (149).
83. BT-Drs. 14/4374, 31.
84. As regards the procedural problems in court connected with the right to part-time work cf. Schmidt, ILJ 2001, 335 (346 seq.), with further proofs.
85. W. Hromadka, Das neue Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz, NJW 2001, 403; Kliemt, Der neue Teilzeitanspruch, NZA 2001, 68.
86. Bezani/Müller, DStR 2001, 87.
87. I.e. a regular dismissal, combined with an offer to continue the employment re-lationship under amended conditions. For details cf. Weiss/Schmidt, op. cit., paras. 256-260.
88. Heinze, Flexible Arbeitszeitmodelle, NZA 1997, 681 (686).