On 27 June 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Case C-284/23, focusing on interpreting Directive 92/85/EEC regarding the dismissal protection for pregnant workers.
The Court stated that national laws requiring pregnant workers to request leave to bring an action out of time within two weeks can be incompatible with EU law if they make exercising dismissal protection rights excessively difficult.
On 7 May 2024, a coalition of over 30 German companies launched the "We Stand for Values" initiative.
This alliance, comprising DAX companies, family-owned businesses, SMEs, and start-ups, stands united in promoting the values of diversity, openness, and tolerance. It is supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).
On 19 October 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Case C-660/20, stressed that only objective reasons can justify treating part-time and full-time workers differently.
The Court ruled that domestic legislation that requires part-time employees to work an extra number of hours equal to that required of full-time employees to obtain a pay supplement is contrary to EU law.
That provision is discriminatory as it unfavourably treats part-time employees, who must perform more extra hours of service than their full-time colleagues to receive the same additional remuneration.
On 24 August 2023, the Federal Labour Court declared the legitimacy of a dismissal without notice of an employee who sent insulting, racist, sexist, and violent comments about managers and colleagues in a private chat group with other colleagues.
It requires employers with more than 50 employees will have an obligation to have an internal reporting channel to which employees can report misconduct.
It transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on protecting persons who report breaches of EU law (the Whistleblowing Directive).
On 31 May 2023, the German Federal Labour (Bundesarbeitsgericht) rejected the claim of a German agency worker. It confirmed that the German collective labour agreement aligns with the EU Directive on temporary agency work.
It follows the preliminary ruling of the European Court of Justice of 22 December 2022 case C-311/21.
On 5 April 2023, the European Commission published the 2022 annual report on intra-EU labour mobility, which identifies trends in the free movement of workers.
The 2022 edition focuses on cross-border workers in the EU and EFTA, on the one hand, and mobility of persons with specific occupations.
On 22 September 2022, HORNBACH Baumarkt announced that, from 2023, employees will be able to change their working hours to suit their needs.
The new working hour system aims to facilitate employees’ work lives and work-life balance and to address recruitment problems due to Germany’s growing shortage of qualified, skilled workers.