From 2001 to the end of 2011, two IT specialists looked after the computers in the treasury department of Daimler AG in Stuttgart. Formally they were freelancers under contracts for work. The contracts ran through an IT systems house, which was a subcontractor of a larger IT company. Daimler said that all work orders came in through a ticket system.
The regional labor court of Baden-Württemberg found otherwise. Daimler employees had often given the two men instructions directly by e-mail, outside the ticket system. The men had also worked for years in Daimler’s rooms with Daimler’s equipment. On 1 August 2013 the court ruled that the contracts were sham contracts for work, Scheinwerkverträge. It held that an employment relationship existed between the two men and Daimler. The case number is 2 Sa 6/13. The court allowed an appeal to the Federal Labor Court.