Which holiday regulations apply to employees who work in different places in Germany? The Federal Labor Court has now answered this question for the state public service.
Holiday regulations and the bonuses for employees with changing work locations are always a source of controversy. The Federal Labor Court has now made a binding decision – but only for the more than 2.6 million employees in the public service of the federal states. According to this, the holiday regulations of the federal state in which employees have their regular place of work always apply, and not those at a short-term work location (6AZR 38/24).
Place of work North Rhine-Westphalia, location Hesse
“According to the collective agreement for the public service of the states, the regular place of employment is decisive for the entitlement to the bonus,” explained the Sixth Senate in Erfurt. The decision was made in a case from North Rhine-Westphalia, which concerned participation in a training event on All Saints Day in Hesse. The labor court and the state labor court in NRW had reached different verdicts.
A spokesman for the Federal Labor Court emphasized that the judges’ decision only applies to the collective agreement of the states and is therefore not easily transferable to other areas, such as companies with many employees on mobile duty.
Time credit but no surcharge
What was the issue in the highest labor court? Ultimately, it was about the different holiday regulations in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. In North Rhine-Westphalia, where the plaintiff works as a technician at a hospital, All Saints’ Day is a public holiday, but not in Hesse, where he completed a training course lasting several days in November. The man insisted to his employer that he should receive the holiday bonus that he was entitled to at his place of work – after all, the training course was considered work. The hospital in question credited him with ten hours on his working time account, but did not pay him a holiday bonus. The dispute was about a fundamental decision for the public service of the states – but ultimately about a bonus of 82.56 euros gross.
The labour court in North Rhine-Westphalia had upheld the technician’s claim, the regional labour court in Hamm had dismissed it but allowed an appeal.
Source: Stern
