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    Labour Law

    With our highly specialised lawyers, we cover all areas of employment law across all sectors. Our experts can also assist you with international matters – in China and Russia and through our ADVANT Alliance. Moreover, we are the exclusive member of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), a worldwide association of lawyers.

    In Germany, we advise companies comprehensively on all individual employment matters (“from the very beginning until the end of the employment relationship”), on works constitution law and collective bargaining issues. Our team has acknowledged specialists in all areas of labour law - including transformation measures, foreign-related and  transactional labour law. If required, highly specialised lawyers from other areas of law are involved in the development of comprehensive solutions.

    AT A GLANCE:

    • Individual labour law, from drafting the employment contract to the termination of the employment relationship
    • Works constitution law
    • Collective bargaining law
    • Restructuring and staff reduction
    • Occupational pension plans
    • Employee data protection
    • International labour law
    • Transactional labour law
    • Insolvency labour law
    • German labour law for international clients

    Focus

    Individual labour law – from drafting contracts to their termination

    Individual labour law – the legal relationship between an employer and each individual employee – is a significant part of our work. We advise from the initiation of the employment process to the end of an employment relationship. Some examples: 

    • Drafting employment agreements with employees, management and other employees who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, as well as service agreements with board members and executive directors
    • Part-time and limited term contracts, parental leave and occupational health and safety law
    • Working time law, including the development of new working time models
    • Leasing of employees
    • Developing variable remuneration models
    • Anti-discrimination law
    • Developing and implementing compliance guidelines
    • Employment law in the case of the transfer of undertakings
    • Providing tactical and legal advice on the mutual termination of employment relationships through cancellation and settlement agreements
    • Advising on the law against unfair dismissal, such as preparing and executing the notice of termination of an employment contract and defending against actions for wrongful or unfair dismissal.
    Works constitution law

    Where works councils represent employees within the group, all issues related to works constitution law - from individual issues to large projects – will be a focus of our work. We have extensive expertise in this key area. Our work includes:

    • Advising companies on cooperation with works councils, joint works councils and group works councils
    • Preparing hearings and other correspondence with works councils
    • Negotiating works agreements (e.g. working time, flexible working time, introduction of digital personnel files, electronic data processing)
    • Negotiating a reconciliation of interests or social plan as part of operational changes
    • Negotiating guidelines for the selection of personnel
    • Advising on all issues related to the codetermination of employees in supervisory boards
    • Providing advice on European employee representation (European works council, codetermination of employees in an SE)
    • Providing comprehensive representation in litigation at all instances, including the enforcement of or defence against interim injunctions
    Collective bargaining law

    Collective bargaining law, including industrial action law, is a core element of our work in this field. We negotiate collective bargaining agreements on all possible issues, especially remuneration and framework agreements. In the case of strike action, we devise the defence strategy and take the necessary steps to protect the interests of the company. Our activities include, in particular:

    • Providing a defence against industrial action and advising during on-going action
    • Negotiating all types of collective agreements (company or restructuring collective bargaining agreements, etc.)
    • Developing and implementing collective bargaining strategies
    • Preparing and negotiating complex models to amend or replace collective bargaining agreements
    • Work alliance agreements (Bündnisse für Arbeit)
    • Collective social plans
    Restructuring / redundancies

    Circumstances can force companies to reduce costs and optimise internal processes. Our labour law team provides comprehensive support when analysing the existing situation and develops specific strategies for action. In addition, we assist with the implementation of any downsizing measures or the cessation of operations. We work closely with communications experts and oversee public relations work and internal communications when preparing and executing such projects. 

    CORE AREAS

    • Preparing restructuring measures
    • Negotiating the reconciliation of interests and social plans with existing works councils, even in conciliation procedures
    • Preparing hearing letters for works councils in preparation for dismissals
    • Termination of employment contracts as part of mass dismissals
    • Structuring processes for extensive exit interviews
    • Preparing and implementing the transfer of undertakings
    • Outsourcing of companies and divisions
    • Labour law due diligence in connection with the acquisition of companies
    • Introducing collective framework conditions for the promotion of health or a good work-life balance, or for long-term care for a relative
    Occupational pension schemes

    Our labour law team advises clients on all aspects of occupational pension schemes. Primarily located in our Düsseldorf office, our pension experts provide fundamental legal support on all aspects of occupational pensions law, including representing clients in court.

    EXAMPLES

    • Restructuring occupational pension schemes to optimise the balance sheet
    • Drafting and negotiating occupational pension rules
    • Establishing and restructuring (shareholder) executive director pension schemes
    • Lifelong flex-time accounts
    • Due diligence as part of corporate transactions
    Employee data protection

    Our labour law team advises clients on all aspects of employee data protection. This includes: 

    • Advising on all issues related to the protection of employee data under German and European law
    • Drafting, adapting and negotiating works agreements and corporate guidelines concerning data protection
    • Providing advice on data protection law issues as part of labour law due diligence
    • The protection of health data
    • Advising on the use of social media at work, e.g. generating social media guidelines
    International labour law

    Globalisation multiplies the challenges facing our clients. International processing of orders, cross-border workforce deployment, and international projects continue to increase. The forms are multi-faceted. The difficulty lies in maintaining the necessary overview of the different areas that are affected. Cross-border workforce deployment, for example, raises labour law, social security, tax and possibly even immigration law issues. We support our clients in all of these aspects. Our international network of proven labour, social security and tax law specialists allows us to offer our clients the best advisory services within short periods of time, even internationally.

    Our services include:

    INTERNATIONAL WORKFORCE DEPLOYMENT

    • Labour, social security and tax law issues arising from cross-border workforce deployment
    • Generating standard documents (secondment agreements, corporate guidelines, etc.) and local employment agreements
    • Advising on and handling the strict administrative obligations in accordance with the law of the relevant destination country: this includes in particular the notification and registration requirements for secondment within the EU
    • Supervising the secondment process (from implementing preliminary discussions to the execution)
    • Providing support with the procurement of residency and work permits in Germany and abroad

    INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

    • Labour law management of international acquisitions
    • Cross-border relocation and transfer of operations
    • Cross-border posting of workers
    • International joint ventures
    • Cessation of operations
    • Providing comprehensive advice as part of outsourcing measures
    • Labour law due diligence in connection with the acquisition of undertakings
    Transactional labour law

    We oversee all aspects of M&A transactions, including corporate acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures, from a labour law perspective and assist with strategic planning, preparation and structuring, through to the implementation of the transaction and workforce integration.

    This work includes:

    • Drafting the labour law provisions of transaction agreements, e.g. for company acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures
    • Conducting labour law due diligence
    • Assisting with pre-transaction preparations, such as optimising the framework conditions of employment law
    • Preparing and implementing the transfer of undertakings: separation in the case of a transfer of undertakings / functional successor, drafting the information notice, designing transfer agreements
    • Providing advice on alternatives to the transfer of undertakings
    • Negotiating with works councils and unions
    • Post-merger integration: aligning employment conditions (collective agreements, works agreements, employment contracts)
    • Managing all labour law aspects of international acquisitions
    Insolvency labour law

    We provide labour law advice and support to insolvency administrators during the restructuring and winding up of companies, but also to investors looking to acquire companies in insolvency. The following are core areas of our work:

    • Developing and negotiating the reconciliation of interests, insolvency social plans, collective agreements, works agreements, etc.
    • Advising on and implementing measures for the reduction of employee numbers (mass redundancy notifications, social selections, works council procedures, application procedures before the integration office or trade supervisory authority, notices of termination, garden leave, etc.)
    • Advising on all aspects of outplacement/placement, from design to implementation
    • Transfer companies: designing and negotiating tri-party transfer agreements and works agreements
    • Assisting potential investors with labour law issues and advising the insolvency administrator (preparing and performing labour law due diligence)
    • Helping shape acquisition concepts for the insolvency administrator to use as a basis for restructuring measures, negotiating and drafting the labour law aspects of the sale and purchase agreement, etc.

    Latest News

    ADVANT Beiten Advises Aesculap on Sale of TETEC AG to the Canadian Octane Group
    Dusseldorf, 26 June 2024 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided interdisciplinary advice to Aesculap AG, a subsidiary of the B. Braun group seated in Melsungen, Germany, on the sale of its…
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    ADVANT Beiten Advises COMEM Group on Acquisition of Weidmann Technologies Deutschland
    Berlin, 2 April 2024 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has comprehensively advised COMEM S.p.A., headquartered in Italy, on the acquisition of all shares in Weidmann Technologies Deutschland GmbH,…
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    Adacta and ADVANT Beiten Advise EBARA on the Acquisition of a Business Division of SKF
    Munich, 24 July 2023 - The international commercial law firm ADVANT Beiten has advised EBARA Pumps Europe S.p.A. (EPE), part of the Japanese EBARA Corporation (EBARA), on the acquisition of the business di…
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    ADVANT Beiten Advises astragon Entertainment on Takeover of Independent Arts
    Frankfurt am Main, 8 May 2023 - The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided legal advice to astragon Entertainment GmbH, Dusseldorf, a subsidiary of Team17 Group PLC, on the takeover of Independe…
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    Equal pay for men and women: negotiating skills are not an objective differentiation criterion
    Judgment of the Federal Labour Court of 16 February 2023 in Case No. 8 AZR 450/21
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    Social selection: how close an employee is to retirement can be considered to the employee’s detriment
    Judgment of the Federal Labour Court of 8 December 2022 in Case No. 6 AZR 31/22 (Press release) When performing the social selection to determine which employment relationships will be terminated for op…
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    ADVANT Beiten advises Cipla (EU) Limited on its investment in Ethris GmbH
    Berlin, 25 January 2023 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten has provided comprehensive legal advice to Cipla (EU) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cipla Limited (“Cipla”), headquartered in Mumb…
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    ADVANT Beiten Advises Wienerberger on acquiring significant part of French Terreal Group’s business
    Berlin, 11 January 2023 – The international law firm ADVANT Beiten advises the leading international manufacturer of building materials and infrastructure solutions, Wienerberger AG, on acquiring major bus…
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    Federal Labour Court publishes judgment on the recording of working time – duty to act and co-decision right
    Judgment of the Federal Labour Court of 13 September 2022 in Case No. 1 ABR 22/21 Employers must record the beginning, end and duration of the daily working time of employees, and do not have a grace pe…
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    Professionals

    Munich
    Virginia Mäurer
    Rechtsanwältin, LL.M. (LSE)
    Senior Associate
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    Berlin
    Marie Louise Freifrau von Hammerstein
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Senior Associate
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    Munich
    Dr Corinne Klapper
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Frankfurt/Main
    Dr Thomas Drosdeck
    Rechtsanwalt
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Sabrina Miersen
    Rechtsanwältin
    Senior Associate
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    Hamburg
    Philipp von Schnakenburg
    Rechtsanwalt
    Associate
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    Munich
    Martin Fink
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Moscow
    Andrey Slepov
    Diplom-Jurist
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Dr Roman Parafianowicz
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Dr Dietmar Müller-Boruttau
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Freiburg
    Alexander Gräßel
    Rechtsanwalt
    Associate
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    Berlin
    Lisa Brix
    Rechtsanwältin
    Senior Associate
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    Munich
    Dr Erik Schmid
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Munich
    Dr Mark Zimmer
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Beijing
    Kelly Tang
    Juristin, LL.B., LL.M.
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    Frankfurt/Main
    Dr Gerald Müller-Machwirth
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Theresa Neidhardt
    Rechtsanwältin
    Senior Associate
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    Dusseldorf
    Dr Andreas Imping
    Rechtsanwalt
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Dr Thomas Barthel
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Munich
    Regina Dietel
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Senior Associate
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    Berlin
    Michael Riedel
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Wolf J. Reuter
    Rechtsanwalt, LL.M., Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Munich
    Patrick Hollenberg
    Rechtsanwalt
    Associate
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    Beijing
    Susanne Rademacher
    Rechtsanwältin
    Partner
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    Inka Adam
    Frankfurt/Main
    Inka Adam
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Hamburg
    Dr Theofanis Tacou
    Rechtsanwalt, LL.M., Licensed Specialist for Labour Law, Dikigoros
    Partner
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    Munich
    Markus Künzel
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Dr Thomas Puffe
    Rechtsanwalt, Notar - registered office Berlin
    Partner
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    Dusseldorf
    Anna Kubitz
    Rechtsanwältin
    Associate
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    Berlin - Hamburg
    Julia Alexandra Schütte
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Frankfurt/Main
    Larissa Ludwig
    Rechtsanwältin, LL.M. (Bond University)
    Associate
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    Frankfurt/Main
    Maike Pflästerer
    Rechtsanwältin, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Frankfurt/Main
    Fabienne Wolf
    Rechtsanwältin
    Partner
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    Munich
    Dr Sebastian Kroll
    Rechtsanwalt, Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht
    Partner
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    Berlin
    Dr Michael Matthiessen
    Rechtsanwalt, Licensed Specialist for Labour Law
    Partner
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    Moscow
    Elena Morozova
    Diplom-Juristin
    Associate
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    What others say about us

    "Reliable coordination within the team, every case is handled professionally and addressed and followed up in a structured manner. The team is always available"

    (THE LEGAL 500 GERMANY 2024 & THE LEGAL 500 EMEA 2024)

    "Our contact person always manages to explain legal processes and make recommendations in a way that even a non-lawyer can understand – the cases are looked at strategically and not reduced to individual cases, so that we always stay true to our strategy, especially when repeating them.";
    "Always make reliable, punctual and competent statements.’";
    "A strong team of lawyers specializing in employment law.";
    "Team of full professionals who cover the entire employment law context."
    (The Legal 500 Germany 2024 & The Legal 500 EMEA 2024)

    ADVANT Beiten is recommended in the field of Employment Law.
    (JUVE Handbook German Commercial Law Firms 2023/2024)

    ADVANT Beiten is one of the "Leading Law Firms" in the legal field of Labour Law.
    (kanzleimonitor.de 2023/2024)

    ADVANT Beiten is awarded as "TOP Law Firm 2023" in the field of Labour Law.
    (WirtschaftsWoche 2023)

    “We had an extremely good experience with the lawyers, who offered super fast reactions and were clear and to the point.”
    “ADVANT Beiten provided fast and reliable processing of enquiries, and deadlines were met very reliably.”
    “The law firm has strong commercial awareness as it brings experience and perspective from other clients.”
    “We particularly value ADVANT Beiten for questions before the labour courts and settlement offices.”
    (Chambers Europe 2023)

    "Modern team, high level of expertise, always available, binding feedback, simply outstanding way of working together.";
    "The ADVANT Beiten team is widely diversified, so that one has both a main contact person and can draw on the entire team for special topics. The solution approaches are then always coordinated and the concerns of our company are ideally taken into account.";
    "Highly professional. Quick and always reliable solutions and masterful accompaniment of negotiations with the company partners.";
    "Overall, a very strong, extremely friendly team, which is closely interlinked in professional terms - very efficient processing of tasks - also in case of representation.";
    "The Advant Beiten team is always available and able to develop pragmatic and quick solutions to problems. Significantly above-average success rates both in individual labour matters as well as in the collective field (collective agreements)."
    (The Legal 500 Germany 2023 & The Legal 500 EMEA 2023)

    ADVANT Beiten is awarded as "TOP Law Firm 2022" in the field of Labour Law.
    (WirtschaftsWoche 2022)

    ADVANT Beiten ist recommended in the field of Employment Law.
    (JUVE Handbook German Commercial Law Firms 2022/2023)

    A client values ADVANT Beiten's "efficient teamwork and well-coordinated team members."
    Another client highlights the team's handling of contentious matters, noting: "The preparation was very good. The facts of the case and the specific procedures were discussed well."
    (Chambers Europe 2022)

    ADVANT Beiten is awarded as "Leading Firm" in the field of Labour Law.
    (The Legal 500 Germany 2022)

    "Very good team, always fast and super competent, broad service, up to bilingual translations, preparation of documents, all-round package full service! Very good training offer on the subject of labour law.",
    "Team excellently organised, high availability.", "We have been working with the labour law team for a few years now. They are always very professional with extensive specialist knowledge, trustworthy, efficient, solution-oriented and respond quickly.",
    No matter what question, whether "normal" employment law, pension provision or the building tariff, which is complicated for us, we receive competent, quick answers. The networking of the individual specialist lawyers, also across the locations, is very good and there is a very great service orientation.",
    "Our recently completed centralisation process in several departments was very well accompanied and the disputes, also in court, were not handled with a view to maximum profits for the law firm, but good, quick legal clarification."
    (The Legal 500 Germany, 2022)

    ADVANT Beiten ist recommended in the field of Employment Law.
    (JUVE Handbook German Commercial Law Firms 2021/2022)