Court Holds Member States Must Require Employers to Adopt Systems to Record All Employee Working Time

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Thomas Griebe, Shareholder and Thorben Klopp, Associate - Littler Germany

On May 14, 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that, in order to guarantee employees’ rights, EU Member States "must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured." In the past, Member States such as Germany and Spain have only required employers to keep track of overtime, but not of regular working time. This approach will now most likely no longer be sufficient. Even though the decision does not bind employers directly, they can treat the ECJ’s decision as an opportunity to revise their internal time-recording systems. A forward-looking early approach may prove helpful in terms of smoothly adopting a system compliant with future regulations following the ECJ’s decision.

Business Travel Within EEA Requires a Social Security Certificate

Trend

Authors: Jan-Ove Becker, Partner and Dagmar Lessnau, Associate - Littler Germany

German and other European employers must ensure that employees who are traveling to another European Economic Area (EEA) state or Switzerland for business-related reasons carry a social security certificate called an A1 certificate. Employers must apply for these certificates electronically. All employers in Germany and other European countries should take steps to comply with the A1 electronic application procedure and ensure that their payroll program includes the electronic application function. Authorities have started auditing companies for compliance. Noncompliance could lead to a fine of up to 10,000 euros (approximately US$11,167).