[co-author: Niklas Thiel, Pauline von Stechow]

Employment contracts often contain clauses that contractually exclude employees’ entitlement to remuneration for the period until the validity of an employer’s dismissal of the employees has been clarified by a court. The Fifth Senate of the Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG)) has now issued a ruling on this matter in its decision of January 28, 2026 (Ref. No.: 5 AS 4/25) and—in deviation from its previous case law—ruled that such clauses are invalid under Section 134 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB)). Section 615 sentence 1 BGB, which regulates the obligation to continue paying remuneration in the event of default of acceptance, cannot be completely excluded in advance in the event of an invalid or only later effective termination by the employer.

Quick Hits

• The Fifth Senate of Germany’s Federal Labor Court clarified that remuneration in the event of default of acceptance (Section 615 sentence 1 BGB) cannot be contractually excluded in advance in the event of an invalid termination by the employer or a termination that only takes effect later.
• Although the provision can, in principle, be contractually amended, this does not apply to the protection of livelihood.
• Remuneration is a typical economic basis of life and as such is specially protected.

Inquiry by Second Senate of the BAG Into Case Law of the Fifth Senate of BAG

As recently as March 2023, the Fifth Senate of the BAG ruled that...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigAFBVV95cUxNUFBKZDNNa1UzaWRqSjg3SzFX...