Employment Law in Hannover. From the contract to the parting.

A dismissal is decided before notice is served. Anyone who consults the works council incorrectly, fails to document the social selection or misses a deadline loses the case regardless of the facts. We prepare the parting so that it holds.

• Review of the grounds and the choice between redundancy, conduct-related and capability-related dismissal
• Consultation of the works council, complete and capable of proof, because errors there alone make the dismissal ineffective
• Social selection with documented scoring and a review of who falls outside it
• Termination agreements covering the end date, garden leave, severance, the reference and remaining holiday
• Managing the risk of continued pay during the proceedings

Our litigation work goes beyond dismissal protection. We represent your business across Germany before the employment tribunals and the regional appeal courts, in ordinary proceedings and in works council proceedings.

• Ordinary proceedings on bonus payments, overtime pay, the wording of references and the validity of fixed terms
• Works council proceedings on disputes about competence and the validity of works agreements
• Interim relief, for example to enforce post-contractual restrictive covenants
• Preparing a commercially acceptable settlement where that is preferable to a judgment

Relocation, outsourcing or job cuts are subject to co-determination and bound by deadlines. Keeping to the sequence, that is informing first, then negotiating, then implementing, avoids compensation claims and ineffective dismissals.

• Review of whether an operational change exists and of the relevant thresholds
• Negotiation of the reconciliation of interests and the social plan with the works council, including the conciliation committee
• Collective redundancy notification and social selection, protected against the typical sources of error
• Transfer of business under section 613a of the Civil Code, from informing employees to handling objections
• Where the change is driven by a crisis or proceedings are already under way, our practice area Insolvency Law takes over

A works council holds wide co-determination rights that can delay operational plans. We negotiate firmly on the substance while keeping the business able to act.

• Works agreements on IT systems, working time models and codes of conduct
• Representation in the conciliation committee where negotiations stall
• De-escalation of entrenched conflicts with the body
• Interpretation of sector collective agreements and negotiation of company-level agreements
• Realignment of collective terms on a carve-out, coordinated with our practice area Commercial Law

The rules binding personnel work come from employment law, social security law and supply chain law. Breaches lead to arrears of contributions, fines and in individual cases to investigations against the responsible individuals.

• Bogus self-employment: review of the use of freelancers and subcontractors, including status determination proceedings
• Working time: implementing the recording duties under the Working Time Act and designing the recording system
• Pay: compliance with and documentation of the minimum wage, equal pay and pay transparency
• Agency work: review of hire agreements for the maximum hire period and disguised hiring
• Supply chain: implementing the employment and human rights diligence duties within your own business
• Embedding these risks in the compliance system, together with our practice area Corporate Law

Digital and telephone sick notes have changed how incapacity for work is handled. We examine irregularities and settle the claims directly with the employees, so that you do not have to conduct that conversation yourself.

• Review of the evidential value of sick notes where there are concrete indications
• Continued pay, reduction and recovery where it has been drawn without entitlement
• Company reintegration management and dismissal on health grounds
• Duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act, from the risk assessment to instruction

Modern working models retain skilled staff but need a sound legal basis. We translate your intentions into arrangements that hold within the employment relationship and towards the works council.

• Trust-based working time, flexitime and mobile working, including from abroad
• Employee participation programmes, real and virtual, coordinated with our practice area Corporate Law
• Benefits in kind and mobility budgets, including the line to remuneration
• Occupational pensions and the forms of commitment available