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The participation of external managing directors as partners in the companies they manage is a common structuring tool to align shareholder and management interests and to retain the management team. Often, the corporate position as partner is functionally tied to the office of managing director, so that the end of the management mandate also leads...

If a company wishes to place its trade secrets under the protection of the Trade Secrets Act (GeschGehG), it must take appropriate measures to protect those secrets. The higher the value of the trade secret, the more effective the protective measures must be. This was decided by the Baden-Württemberg Regional Labor Court in its ruling...

As usual, the new year comes with numerous legal changes. Some initiatives that were originally intended to take effect at the beginning of the year have not yet been enacted. If and how these legislative proposals will still be implemented is currently unclear. Below, we aim to provide a concise overview of the most important...

Unlike the former registered mail with peel-off label, the new digital registered mail is no longer suitable as prima facie evidence. This is the result of a decision by the Hamburg Regional Labor Court (July 14, 2025 – 4 SLa 26/24). Facts The Hamburg Regional Labor Court had to rule on the validity of a...

Whether public figure or private individual – unauthorized access to one’s own voice, its misuse, and the resulting consequences can affect anyone. Such misuse also leads to a general loss of trust and a decrease in the value of audio recordings of all kinds. It is therefore more than welcome that the Berlin Regional Court...

Whether an agreement is a commercial agency agreement is determined by the actual content of the agreement. The name of the agreement is not relevant. Instead, the overall picture of the circumstances is decisive. This is the result of the judgement of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt am Main of 8 July 2025 (Case...

The unlawful and almost complete video surveillance of an employee at work over a period of 22 months has resulted in the employer being ordered to pay damages of €15,000. In the absence of any legal justification, the intensive video surveillance constituted a serious infringement of the employee’s personal rights. This was decided by the...

If a clause triggers the reimbursement of training costs when the employment relationship is terminated “at the request” of the employee, this means the indiscriminate termination of the employment relationship by the employee giving notice. With this content, the clause is unreasonably disadvantageous within the meaning of Section 307 (1) sentence 1 of the German...

The question of whether external applicants who were not previously employed by the employer and have already reached the standard retirement age may be rejected on the basis of their age was recently decided by the Federal Labor Court (BAG) (judgment of May 8, 2025 – 8 AZR 299/24). The BAG concluded that although age...

A probationary period that corresponds to the entire duration of the fixed-term employment relationship is generally inadmissible. However, if a termination option has been agreed in addition to the probationary period, the invalidity of the probationary period provision does not affect the possibility of ordinary termination. This was clarified by the Federal Labor Courtin its...