In German labor law, coming late is not a small matter. In 1988, the Federal Labor Court ruled that repeated lateness can in itself justify dismissal without notice, once it amounts to a persistent refusal to work. In 2021, the state labor court of Schleswig-Holstein upheld the dismissal of an employee with more than 13 years of service. The employee had come to work much too late, or not at all, on three of four consecutive working days, after one oral warning.