United States Archives - Page 63 of 68

German or American: Which labor law is better?

The recent terminations at Twitter have once again shown how different the protection against dismissal is in German and American labor law.

U.S. employees will probably receive continued pay for 60 days, or two months, under the WARN Act, and that’s it. If Elon Musk offers the dismissed employees (instead) a severance payment amounting to three months’ salary, that is considered quite fair by American standards. After all, Musk is paying 50% more than he has to.

In Germany, we would rather draw up a social plan that grants the dismissed employees (at least) 1 gross month’s salary per year of service as severance pay, in addition to compliance with the notice period.

Where do these differences come from, and which system is actually better?

10 Important Facts About the 2022 Works-Council Elections

A works council in Germany is elected by employees and the conduct and procedure of the election is a matter for them too. Nevertheless, the employer usually has an interest in the proper conduct of the election.

An incorrect election procedure could result in higher costs for it, as well as unclear and unstable conditions in day-to-day dealings with the council and any collective agreements (“works agreements”) negotiated with representatives elected in an unlawful ballot.

Due to new case law and recent changes to the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), the election procedure has been simplified. Employers are well advised to familiarize themselves with the recent amendments regarding the election process in good time to avoid subsequent disputes about the validity of the ballot.

Dealing with the Works Council

In this video Dr. Gerlind Wisskirchen explains 5 principles you should abide by when dealing with the works council in Germany. The German works council system is quite unique in the world, and many companies complain about their dealings with the works council.

Most companies consider it as a daily, almost tedious task to deal with the works council, and they find it extremely difficult to get to results. By abiding by all these principles, you can do much better with dealing with works councils!

Employees want more training

More than ever since the corona crisis, employees have feared that their qualifications are no longer sufficient, a study shows.

Colleagues and friends

Differences in the workplace environment can be reflected in the sorts of extra-workplace relationships that develop between co-workers. Company policies aside, of course. Two recent independent surveys of couples in Germany and the U.S. yielded the results that 24.5% of U.S. couples met their partner at work, while in Germany this number lies at only 12%. However, the most common way in which couples met was the same for both countries: through friends.

Head of Wichtig (important)

Cordelia Röders-Arnold is Head of Menstruation. It’s also on her business card – if she writes it down. Because at Einhorn, a Berlin start-up that manufactures vegan, sustainable condoms and period products, everyone can call themselves whatever they want. As long as it conveys what he is doing.

Röders-Arnold takes care of everything to do with the menstrual cycle at Einhorn – she develops products, takes care of distribution, sales, social media. “The job title was originally just a gag,” she says. “But I am now convinced that it is precisely on this basis of amused interest that one arouses interest in sustainable alternatives and breaks with social taboos.”

Top-Down Decision-Making

Decisions in Chinese companies are typically made by senior managers, with input from lower-level staff filtered through formal chains. Subordinates rarely challenge management directly in meetings, instead showing deference through silence or agreement. Even when employeesdisagree or spot problems, criticism is delivered very cautiously, often privately, to protect “face.” This means information travels slowly, with critical issues filtered and softened before reaching leadership.

Too rude

Leon Lederman, the author of the book The God Particle (Higgs Boson) originally wanted to call it The Goddamn Particle because the particle was proving very difficult to find, but his publishers thought that this sounded too rude.

Higgs Boson is a particle which is largely responsible for the mass of subatomic particles. It took almost five decades after the particle was first postulated to find it, largely because of the high energy needed to produce it and how quickly it decays into smaller particles.

Books on advice-giving

When typing in „advice“ into amazon(dot)com – USA – roughly 140,000 books are listed. When inputting Ratgeber (literally advice-givers) into amazon(dot)de – Germany – about 640,000 books are listed.

There 320 million people in the U.S. In Germany there are 80 million. The American population is four times larger than the German. However, there are four times more books written in Germany on giving advice than in the U.S.

The Germans give advice and the Germans take advice.

Personal liability

Germany is a country based on the rule of law. And there are many laws in Germany. The Germans abide by them. For Germans, rules and regulations are one way to reduce risk of personal liability. This can make working with Germans difficult for non-Germans. A conditional German yes might very well be based on the fear of being made personally responsible for the outcome of an agreement.

Working with Germans or setting foot on German soil immediately involves coming in contact with German laws. Why are escalators in Germany so slow? Because the store owner is liable for any accidents.

Bus drivers in Germany will only let passengers enter or exit at designated bus stops, even if it is only ten meters away. For legal reasons. When sending an email to a group of friends the other email addresses should not be visible. Personal email addresses are private and protected by Datenschutz, information privacy protection laws.

Computers often need repair. Employees of companies are not permitted to take action, unless they are in the IT department. If repairing leads to further damage, the employee is personally liable. For it is not their job, but the employer‘s, to repair company equipment.

The same goes for cleaning. Rolling up your sleeves and cleaning dirty windows in your office is a nice gesture, but not a good idea in Germany. The employee is liable for any injury incurred during the cleaning. The company‘s insurance company certainly will not pick up the costs. And the company can even charge the employee for not focusing on the work they are paid for.

German laws also prescribe clearly in which locations what kinds of commercial space can be used for. Many an organization has learned the hard way that the space they rented cannot be used for the purposes they intended.