Employment law and service agreements

We advise on the full range of employment matters and represent clients at all levels of the German courts, up to the Federal Labour Court. Miklós Gerner-Barna is a certified specialist lawyer in employment law.

We identify ways to resolve disputes in and out of court, with the aim of finding solutions that work in the long term. We advise on individual employment relationships and collective labour matters.

We support employers as an external legal or human resources department for employment and service agreement matters.

We focus in particular on the employment aspects of restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. We assist with the sale or purchase of businesses and parts of businesses and advise on alternatives such as employee ownership companies for refinancing and restructuring.

Our individual employment law services include:

• Drafting and reviewing employment and service contracts, company car agreements, working time arrangements, bonus schemes and remuneration policies
• Preparing notices of termination, formal warnings and reprimands, and representing clients in court when employment or service relationships end
• Reviewing notices of ordinary or extraordinary dismissal, including dismissals with an offer of severance under section 1a of the German Protection Against Dismissal Act (KSchG)
• Handling proceedings before integration offices and occupational health and safety authorities
• Drafting and reviewing employment references
• Drafting and reviewing termination agreements, agreements settling the terms of departure and settlements before the labour courts
• Advising and representing employees on matters including pay claims, leave, severe disability, maternity protection, parental and carers’ leave, part-time and fixed-term work, occupational pensions, reassignment, dismissal with an offer of amended terms, challenges to legal acts, post-employment non-compete clauses, personality rights and claims for non-material damages, including workplace bullying and cases under the General Equal Treatment Act
• Bringing or defending unfair dismissal claims
• Advising and representing clients on alleged false self-employment before the labour courts and the status determination office of the German statutory pension insurance body
• Advising and representing clients in mediation and other forms of out-of-court dispute resolution
• Bringing or defending avoidance actions under the German Insolvency Code
• Advising and representing insolvency administrators and employees on employment matters arising from insolvency, including insolvency pay, liabilities and insufficiency of the insolvency estate, claims in the insolvency register and insolvency plans
• Drafting and reviewing occupational pension arrangements and pension commitments, including direct insurance and transfers of pension obligations to third parties
• Preparing and implementing transfers of undertakings under section 613a of the German Civil Code (BGB), including drafting purchase agreements and notices to employees

In collective labour law, we advise and represent clients on works constitution law and collective bargaining. Our services include:

• Negotiating reconciliations of interests and social plans when operations change
• Reviewing and preparing works council consultations
• Reviewing and preparing collective redundancy notifications, including the employer’s consultation obligations
• Representation in negotiations to establish and organise works councils, central works councils and group works councils
• Advice and representation on social, staffing and economic matters under the German Works Constitution Act
• Drafting works agreements
• Representation in labour court proceedings concerning collective matters and before conciliation committees
• Negotiating company-level collective agreements, job protection agreements and collective social plan agreements
• Transferring groups of employees to employment or transfer companies when operations change
• Negotiating collective agreements for business recovery and restructuring

Our services in executive service agreements and company law include:

• Advising and representing companies on the appointment and removal of management board members and managing directors, and on terminating their service agreements
• Drafting service agreements for management board members and managing directors
• Advising and representing companies and their governing bodies in the ordinary courts on termination and liability matters