Employment Law Newsletter 1-2025

Employment Law Newsletter

Requirements in employment law are evolving rapidly: new laws, court rulings and discussions constantly present companies with challenges. With our employment law newsletter, we want to help you keep track of developments and act in a legally compliant manner. You will receive concise assessments, practical insights and specific recommendations for action – well-founded, understandable and to the point.

You can expect the following topics:

• Changes to formal requirements since 1 January 2025
• Termination by registered letter
• Summertime is holiday time

We hope you enjoy reading it!

Changes to formal requirements since 1 January 2025

The 4th Bureaucracy Relief Act (BEG IV) aims to promote digitisation and reduce the burden on companies.

The relevant changes in labour law that have been in force since 1 January 2025 include:

Employment contracts

• Since 1 January 2025, employment contracts can be concluded in text form. This means by email or PDF, without a handwritten signature. The prerequisite is that the contract is legible, can be saved and printed, and the sender can be identified. A request for proof of receipt should be included.
• However, an exception is made for industries that are subject to special requirements under Section 2a (1) of the Act to Combat Illegal Employment (e.g. the construction or restaurant industries). Here, the legislator continues to stipulate the stricter written form requirement for the protection of employees.
• In future, text form will also suffice for agreements on fixed-term employment relationships until the standard retirement age. This exception to the written form requirement for fixed-term regulations is now governed by the newly created Section 41 (2) of the Social Security Code VI (SGB VI).
• However, fixed-term employment contracts are still subject to a strict written form requirement (Section 14 (4) TzBfG).

Employment reference

In future, the reference may be issued in electronic form with the employee’s consent.

Application for parental leave and care leave/family care leave

• Parental leave can be applied for in writing for children born on or after 1 May 2025. The written form applies both to the application for part-time work during parental leave (including with another employer) and to its rejection by the employer.
• In future, care leave must be taken/announced in writing. The same applies to family care leave. However, a written agreement between the employer and the employee on the reduction and distribution of working hours must still be concluded.

Temporary employment

In future, text form will suffice for the temporary employment contract between the temporary employment agency and the hirer, Section 12 (1) sentence 1 AÜG.

Working Hours Act and Youth Employment Protection Act

• Employers’ obligations to display information (including laws and collective agreements applicable to the company) can in future also be fulfilled in electronic form “using the information and communication technology customary in the company or office” if all employees have access to the information.
• With regard to the Youth Employment Protection Act, the obligation to provide information concerns the obligation to provide information about the start and end of regular daily working hours and breaks (also electronically); insofar as the Youth Employment Protection Act also provides for actions to be taken in writing, these may also be carried out in text form.

Termination by registered letter: better not!

The receipt of a notice of termination is always a key issue in employment law practice, especially when the employee disputes receipt. The burden of proof lies with the employer.

Termination by registered mail is simple and legally secure – according to the widely held view, prima facie evidence can be assumed for receipt. The Federal Labour Court (BAG) rejected this in its decision of 30 January 2025 – 2AZR 68/24:

What happened?

A doctor’s practice dismissed a medical assistant who had noted a coronavirus vaccination in her husband’s patient file, after several attempts to dismiss her and an intervening pregnancy, including extraordinary dismissal by registered mail. The employee denied receipt. The employer submitted the proof of posting from Deutsche Post AG, the tracking number and the tracking status obtained from the internet. This was not sufficient for the Federal Labour Court (BAG) to provide prima facie evidence that the employee had actually received the letter:

Since the sending of a letter does not constitute proof of its receipt, the proof of posting is irrelevant to the question of receipt.

The printout of the shipment status, which shows the same shipment number as on the proof of posting and the date of delivery, also does not provide sufficient guarantee of receipt. In this case, it is not possible to determine who delivered the item. The shipment status is not a substitute for the delivery receipt. It does not indicate whether the delivery person actually paid particular attention to the specific delivery, which would justify the conclusion that the delivered item was placed in the recipient’s letterbox. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that the shipment status provided by the employer does not indicate to whom the delivery was made (personally to the recipient, to another person in their household or placed in the house letterbox), nor at what time, at what address or at least in which delivery district.

The employer was unable to provide proof of delivery, meaning that the employment relationship was not terminated by extraordinary dismissal due to a lack of proof of receipt.

What does this mean?

If the employer has delivered the notice of termination by registered mail and the employee disputes receipt, the employer must take action and request the delivery receipt from Deutsche Post AG. This is only stored for 15 months. A proof of posting is not sufficient as proof of receipt.

Termination by registered mail should therefore never be the first choice. It is better to hand over the notice of termination in person (always against acknowledgement of receipt) or have it delivered by courier – with documentation that the signed original notice of termination was placed in the envelope and that this envelope was posted in the letterbox with precise recording of the date and time and, ideally, in the presence of witnesses who co-sign the record.

Summertime is holiday time: the top 5 questions

1. Who is entitled to holiday leave?

All employees, including part-time workers, marginal workers (mini-jobbers, temporary workers) and trainees, are entitled to paid annual leave.

2. How much holiday entitlement is there?

The statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 24 working days for a 6-day week, or 20 working days for a 5-day week. In addition, the employer may grant additional holiday entitlement above and beyond the statutory/contractual minimum. The average holiday entitlement is between 25 and 30 days. Severely disabled persons are entitled to 5 days of additional holiday. Employees in care facilities are entitled to 9 days of additional holiday above the statutory minimum.

The full holiday entitlement arises after 6 months of employment.

3. The employee is ill during their holiday. What happens to their holiday entitlement?

If an illness leads to incapacity for work, the holiday days are credited and are considered not to have been taken. However, this is only on condition that the incapacity for work during the holiday is proven by a medical certificate. The holiday is not extended, but the holiday days can be taken at a later date.

4. Can the employer refuse the holiday?

Leave must be granted unless there are urgent operational requirements. For example, a high order backlog or priority leave requests from other employees. If the employer refuses to grant leave, the employee is not entitled to take leave without authorisation; the employee must apply for a temporary injunction at the labour court.

Taking leave without authorisation can lead to a warning or even termination of the employment relationship.

5. When does holiday entitlement expire?

According to Section 7 (3) of the Federal Leave Act (BUrlG), leave can only expire if the employer has specifically requested the employee to take the leave and has clearly and timely informed them that the leave will otherwise expire at the end of the calendar year. The employer has a duty to cooperate. The statutory obligations to cooperate can be modified with regard to contractual additional leave, as the Federal Leave Act only applies to the statutory minimum leave.

Employment contracts should therefore differentiate between statutory minimum leave and contractual additional leave. It should be clarified that statutory leave must be taken first and only after it has been granted in full can contractual additional leave be taken. Furthermore, a provision should be included stating that contractual leave must be taken within the calendar year and otherwise expires, regardless of the employer’s obligation to cooperate.