labour dispute

Employees in an employment relationship governed by collective bargaining law may participate in lawful industrial action if they are not required to perform emergency services.

Participation in unlawful industrial action is not permitted. Participation in such action may result in consequences under labor law, such as extraordinary dismissal or liability for damages. Unlawful industrial action includes, among other things

• the unauthorized use of the employer's premises and objects (e.g. vehicles and equipment) in connection with industrial action,
• strike riots, e.g. the blocking of access routes or departure routes by people, etc., the obstruction of employees or visitors willing to work, physical assaults or attacks on employees or visitors willing to work, or damage to company facilities.

Unlawful industrial action can trigger consequences under labor law (e.g. warning, dismissal, damages) and criminal law (e.g. charges of insult, bodily harm, coercion, damage to property).

Employees who do not take part in industrial action will be employed as long as possible.

1. GENERAL

1. Participation in lawful industrial action does not terminate the employment relationship of the individual employees. However, the rights and obligations arising from the employment contract shall be suspended for the duration of participation in industrial action.
2. After the end of the industrial action, employees shall be entitled to continued employment unless the employment relationship has been effectively terminated or otherwise ended.

2. REMUNERATION, ANNUAL BONUS, HOLIDAY PAY

1. Employees are not entitled to remuneration for the duration of their participation in an industrial action. This also applies to unionized or non-unionized employees who are not employed in their administration as a result of the industrial action (e.g. due to interference or obstruction by pickets, shutdown of the administration/plant, breakdown of means of transport). Employees who have lost working time due to their participation in the preparation or implementation of the strike ballot or due to their participation in the strike ballot are also not entitled to remuneration.
2. There is an obligation to operate the time recording devices when entering or leaving the campus, otherwise it is a breach of duty if employees leave and re-enter the administration during working hours for the purpose of taking part in industrial action without documenting this by operating the time recording devices. The employer can issue a warning for this breach of duty. If employees have permissibly logged off from the company time recording system within the framework of a flexitime regulation due to taking time off and subsequently participated in a protest rally, the contractual target working time and the entitlement to remuneration shall not be reduced by the time of participation in the rally.
3. Employees shall not be entitled to make up working hours lost as a result of industrial action.
4. Employees whose administration is not subject to a strike but who cannot be employed or can only be employed to a lesser extent as a result of an industrial action (e.g. due to a failure of the electricity or gas supply or means of transport) shall also not be entitled to remuneration for the working time lost.
5. Insofar as remuneration has already been paid for periods for which there is no entitlement to remuneration, employees are obliged to repay it.
6. If, as a result of the industrial action, no pay is due for at least one full calendar month, this shall have a corresponding effect on the step progression (Art. 17 para. 3 sentence 2 TV-L), insofar as the final step has not been reached, on the annual special payment (Art. 20 para. 4) TV-L) and on the duration of the recuperation leave (Art. 26 para. 2 letter c TV-L), insofar as it exceeds the statutory minimum leave.
7. During an industrial dispute, striking employees shall not be entitled to public holiday pay pursuant to Art. 2 para. 1 of the Continued Remuneration Act. Public holidays during an industrial dispute are entitled to public holiday pay if public holidays fall within the approved leave of employees. However, there is no entitlement for public holidays falling within an industrial dispute that immediately precede or immediately follow a granted vacation.
8. Even in the case of a lawful strike, overtime pay is only due if employees actually work more hours than the relevant weekly working hours (e.g. according to the duty roster). Only the actual active working time is taken into account. Time spent on strike participation shall not be taken into account; it shall neither be added to the actual working time nor deducted from the weekly working time to be worked.

3. REMUNERATION IN THE EVENT OF SICKNESS

1. The entitlement to continued payment of remuneration in the event of illness requires that the incapacity for work is the sole cause of the loss of work performance.
2. Employees who have become incapacitated for work prior to the commencement of the industrial action shall not be entitled to remuneration in the event of illness (e.g. pursuant to Art. 22 TV-L) from the time of the commencement of the industrial action if the part of the administration/operation in which they would be working comes to a standstill as a result of the industrial action and the employees would therefore not be entitled to remuneration even if they were not incapacitated for work as a result of the industrial action. If the inability to work only occurs during the industrial action, there is also no entitlement to remuneration in the event of illness under the same conditions.
3. Employees who are unable to work and who are not entitled to remuneration in the event of illness are entitled to sick pay from their health insurance fund if they are compulsorily insured.
4. If the incapacity to work continues after the end of the industrial dispute, the employee shall again be entitled to remuneration in the event of illness, provided that the reference period has not yet expired.
5. An extension of the reference period pursuant to Art. 22 TV-L by the time for which there is no entitlement shall not occur.

4. EMPLOYER ALLOWANCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 14 OF THE MATERNITY PROTECTION ACT (MUSCHG)

he statements in Art. 3 shall apply accordingly to the employer's supplement to maternity pay in accordance with Art. 14 of the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG).

5. VACATION, TIME OFF FROM WORK

1. As a rule, employees on strike cannot be granted leave. If employees are already on leave at the start of industrial action, the leave shall continue to run. Leave granted before the start of the industrial action must be taken.
2. There shall be no entitlement to time off (e.g. pursuant to Art. 29 TV-L) for days on which employees participate in the industrial action or on which they are unable to work as a result of the industrial action. An exception applies to employees willing to work who cannot work as a result of the industrial action only if the time off work had already been determined at the start of the industrial action.

6. AIDS

Allowances pursuant to the protocol declaration on Art. 13 TVÜ-Länder shall not be granted for expenses incurred during periods in which the employment relationship was suspended due to participation in an industrial action and the employees were not entitled to remuneration for this reason. This shall also apply to other employees who are not entitled to remuneration due to industrial action (cf. No. 2).

7. PART-TIME RETIREMENT IN THE BLOCK MODEL, SABBATICAL

In the case of partial retirement employees who participate in strike action during the work phase of the block model, the work phase shall be extended by half of the days without pay entitlement in accordance with Art. 8 Para. 2 TV ATZ; the release phase shall be shortened to the same extent. The same applies in the case of a sabbatical.

8. DISRUPTIONS ON THE WAY TO THE WORKPLACE AS A RESULT OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION

If, as a result of industrial action, employees who are willing to work cannot reach their place of work in time using the means of transport they would otherwise use (e.g. due to the cancellation of public transport), they must use all other reasonable means to get to their place of work and keep the loss of work to a minimum. It may make sense to form car pools, for example, with the involvement of the administration. Reimbursement of additional travel costs is generally out of the question. With regard to remuneration for lost working time, reference is made to No. 2.

9. HEALTH INSURANCE

1. During the duration of a lawful industrial dispute, the membership of persons subject to compulsory insurance in the statutory health insurance scheme shall continue (cf. Art. 192 para.1 no. 1 SGB V).
2. The membership of persons voluntarily insured under the statutory health insurance scheme who are exempt from or exempt from compulsory insurance shall likewise not be affected by the loss of remuneration as a result of industrial action. This also applies to employees insured with a private health insurance company.
3. If the entitlement to remuneration ceases as a result of the industrial dispute, the entitlement to the health insurance contribution subsidy pursuant to Art. 257 para. 1 or para. 2 SGB V shall cease. If, as a result of an industrial dispute, there is only an entitlement to remuneration for parts of a month and thus also only an entitlement to the contribution supplement for parts of a month, this is to be calculated in accordance with Art. 223 SGB V, i.e. there is an entitlement to one thirtieth of the monthly contribution supplement for each day with an entitlement to remuneration..
4. During an unlawful industrial dispute, the membership of persons subject to compulsory insurance in the statutory health insurance scheme shall continue for a maximum of one month from the beginning of the industrial dispute (cf. Art. 7 para. 3 sentence 1 SGB IV, Art. 192  para.1) no. 1 SGB V).

10. CARE INSURANCE

1. For the continuation of long-term care insurance, Art. 49 para. 2 SGB XI refers to the corresponding regulations in health insurance law. Membership of the long-term care insurance scheme therefore continues in accordance with Art. 192 para. 1 no. 1 SGB V during a lawful industrial dispute.
2. The remarks on the entitlement to the health insurance contribution subsidy under No. 1 apply mutatis mutandis to the entitlement to the nursing care insurance contribution subsidy under Art. 61 para.1 or para. 2 SGB XI.

11. PENSION INSURANCE

Employees shall remain insured under the statutory pension insurance scheme without any time limit if their entitlement to remuneration ceases as a result of the industrial action. Contributions are not payable for the period for which there is no entitlement to remuneration. Periods during which the employment relationship is suspended due to participation in an industrial dispute or as a result of an industrial dispute without contributions being paid are not eligible insurance periods and cannot be taken into account as replacement periods or periods of absence. They may be counted towards fulfilling the qualifying period and towards increasing the pension if voluntary contributions are paid for them.

12. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

As there is no entitlement to remuneration during the industrial action, no unemployment insurance contributions are payable. Such periods, insofar as they exceed one month, do not serve to fulfill the qualifying period for the entitlement to unemployment benefits (Art. 142 SGB III) and are insofar also not to be taken into account in the calculation of the duration of this entitlement (Art. 147 SGB III).

13. ACCIDENT INSURANCE

Employees taking part in industrial action are not covered by statutory accident insurance. This also applies in particular to accidents that occur on the way to or from the workplace if the workplace was visited in order to take part in industrial action.

14. COMPANY PENSION SCHEME

Compulsory insurance with the supplementary pension scheme remains in force even during the period in which employees are not entitled to remuneration due to the industrial action. If there are full calendar months for which no contributions etc. had to be paid, or if the remuneration subject to the supplementary pension scheme is reduced due to the loss of remuneration, this may result in a lower company pension. Calendar months for which no contributions etc. were payable cannot be taken into account in the waiting period under Art. 6 para. 1 ATV (60 calendar months), which must be fulfilled for the company pension to be granted. However, the statutory regulations on the vesting of pension rights must be observed in this context (cf. Art. 34 para. 4 sentence 2 VBLS).