Employment Law

Our employment law experts understand the new economic developments and latest trends that are the focus of employers’ attention and ensure that employers are always up to date in a rapidly changing world of work.

THE EMPLOYMENT LAW TEAM advises on all questions of individual employment law and collective labor law as well as related social security law issues; we offer individual legal advice for our national and international clients covering the range from day-to-day HR work to complex employment law projects. In close interdisciplinary collaboration with our other BDO service lines and experts from the international BDO network, we develop tailored solutions for any employment law challenges at the premium quality level.

Of course, we also represent our clients’ interests in labor courts in all instances as well as towards authorities.

Our services include in particular:

Comprehensive advice on individual employment law
Employment contract law: Examination and drafting of employment conditions and employment contracts, verification letters and other employment documents
Advice on and design of variable remuneration and incentive systems as well as employee participation models e.g. ESOP ,considering individual employment and collective labor law
Design of flexible working time systems, sabbaticals, partial retirement models
Drafting of employment law guidelines (e.g. home office, mobile work, IT, company car)
Introduction and implementation of short-time work (considering individual employment law and collective labor law aspects), including social security law requirements (see also Sozialversicherungsrecht)
Company pension scheme issues (considering individual employment law and collective labor law)
Legal support related to international employee assignments, e.g. secondment of employees (considering individual employment law and collective labor law aspects), including contract drafting and examination of applicable employment and social security law (see also Sozialversicherungsrecht)
Support with the establishment, amendment and termination of employment relationships
Termination and settlement agreements with employees
Advice and support related to protection against dismissal matters
contract negotiations

Comprehensive advice on service contract law
Support with the establishment, amendment and termination of service contracts
Examination and drafting of service contracts with managing directors, board members and other bodies of legal entities
Review and drafting of contracts with freelancers and consultants, including clarification of social security status issues (see also Sozialversicherungsrecht )
Advice in connection with termination and settlement agreements with freelancers, consultants and bodies of legal entities
Contract negotiations

Drafting collective labor agreements ( works/staff council agreements or )
Collective labor law negotiations with work councils or staff councils
Special collective labor law agreements such as reconciliation of interests and social plan
Support during conciliation committee proceedings
co-determination rights under collective labor law perspective
Advice on the negotiation, application and interpretation of collective agreements
Advice on changing or discontinuing collective bargaining agreements.

Employment law advice on the design and implementation of sustainable HR strategies and derived HR measures
Green HRM (e.g. environmentally conscious mobility concepts, digitalization in the workplace)
Work 4.0
Socially responsible working conditions (e.g. flexible working time models, work-life balance, health management, job sharing, sabbaticals, whistleblowing)
Advice on incentivizing sustainable employee behavior
Evaluation of optimization options under employment law with regard to sustainability Employment law compliance

Special features of the so-called third way (ecclesiastical labor law)
Co-determination under ecclesiastical labor law in accordance with the Employee Representation Regulations
Supplementary pension issues under ecclesiastical labor law

Advice on the planning and implementation of operational changes and other internal restructuring measures, including preparation and support for negotiations on reconciliation of interests and social compensation plans
Advice on the planning and implementation of staff reductions as part of restructuring measures, in particular through compulsory redundancies and partial retirement
Individual employment law and collective labor law advice on targeted and structured site closures
Employment law advice on the transfer of employment relationships to a transfer company
Representation of interests vis-à-vis authorities in connection with restructuring measures (e.g. notification of mass redundancies, applications for existing special protection against dismissal, etc.)
Advice on the effects of restructuring measures on variable remuneration models and working time accounts
Employment law consequences of restructuring processes on the company pension scheme or supplementary pension scheme
Agreement of contractual trust arrangements for restructuring measures
Advice on corporate co-determination issues (e.g. impact of restructuring on co-determination in the supervisory board, requirement to form a co-determined supervisory board and structuring options)

Employment law advice on the development and implementation of outsourcing concepts and outsourcing measures considering individual employment law and collective labor law
Examination of the existence of a transfer of business under Section 613a German Civil Code (“TUPE”)
Employment law advice on the preparation, structuring and implementation of transfers of undertakings pursuant to Section 613a German Civil Code (“TUPE”)
Examination of feasibility of terminations in the case of outsourcing measures
Examination of the impact of outsourcing measures on employees and employee representatives
Employment law advice on outsourcing contracts
Employment/Labor law due diligence
Employment law advice on corporate transactions (in particular drafting employment law aspects of company purchase agreements)
Employment law post-merger advice

Comprehensive advice on legal relationships in the context of temporary employment
Advice on rights, obligations and risks associated with temporary employment
Examination of applicability of the German Temporary Employment Act, in particular in the case of cross-border employee leasing
Legalqualification of temporary employment requiring a temporary employment license
Differentiation between service contract/contract for work, joint operation and temporary employment
Advice on alternatives to temporary employment
Employment law advice o in connection with the application for or renewal of a temporary employment permit and verification of the existence of the necessary requirements, such as clearance certificates
Employment law advice on intercompany or occasional employee leasing, the avoidance of illegal employee leasing,chain leasing as well as the maximum duration of temporary employment
Examination of the consequences of legal and illegal employee leasing, such as equal pay
Drafting of temporary employment contracts between hirer and lender as well as employment contracts with temporary workers
Representation of interests vis-à-vis the Federal Employment Agency and in labor courts in all matters relating to temporary employment