Employment

‘This firm continues to attract leading clients from its Munich office and now boasts a team in Hamburg, which strengthens its domestic coverage and market visibility. The group assists clients with general employment law as well as labour-related issues of M&A transactions, employee hires and terminations, and reorganisations… Sources say: “The team endeavours to give you the right advice at the right time. It really tries to deliver and works extremely fast”.’
Chambers Europe, 2012

A company’s most valuable resource is its employees. Strategic human resources planning, development and management and dealing with labour representatives are crucial for a company’s overall performance. Besides, employers need to assess and avoid risks related to employment, and personnel adjustment measures while considering the legal changes constantly taking place in employment law.

Our employment team advises domestic and international clients on all aspects of employment law. Our employment lawyers have extensive experience in all areas of individual and collective labour law including cross-border issues.

Our areas of work include:

• Structuring and advice on cost-reduction and rationalisation measures as well as outsourcing projects
• Negotiations on reconciliation of interests and social compensation plans with the works council (including negotiations at the conciliation committee) and negotiations with the trade unions on collective (also restructuring) agreements
• Advice on company transactions (including due diligence) and standardisation of working conditions following mergers or acquisitions
• Drafting and negotiating service or employment agreements as well as termination agreements
• Drafting pension and stock option schemes and flexible remuneration systems
• Preparing and negotiating works agreements, in particular flexible working time models in order to fight against skills shortages
• Advice on employee data protection, in particular in connection with due diligence procedures, compliance investigations and centralisation of employee data processing in the company
• Support for managing directors and heads of personnel departments with regard to employment law aspects of day-to-day business
• Advice on questions regarding company pension schemes law (also in case of liquidation)
• Litigation before employment and social courts as well as ordinary courts

Our recent work:

• Advising Qiagen throughout Europe on reallocating human resources within the framework of an efficiency enhancement project.
• Advising Stena Line on employment law issues in the acquisition of several Baltic Sea routes from Scandlines.
• Advising Altra Holding on employment law issues in the acquisition of the gear motor business from Danfoss Bauer.
• Advising Caceis Bank Deutschland on various employment matters.
• Advising SafeNet/Aladdin on various complex employment law proceedings.
• Advising Wüstenrot & Württembergische on the update of the flexible working time model for Wüstenrot Bausparkasse.
• Advising Wüstenrot & Württembergische on the post merger integration of the employees of Allianz Dresdner Bauspar into Wüstenrot Bausparkasse including the standardisation of working conditions.

More information on our global employment and labour practice