Labour contract

LABOUR CONTRACT 

Form of the employment contract

In principle, employment contracts do not require written form and can therefore also be concluded without form, i.e. verbally, in writing or by "conclusive action" (Section 105 I S.1GewO). In individual cases, a written form may be provided for in a collective agreement. However, according to Section 2 NachwG, the employer must set out the essential contractual terms in writing no later than one month after the start of the employment relationship, sign the minutes and hand them over to the employee.

There are a number of legal exceptions to the principle that employment contracts must be free of formal requirements:

If non-competition clauses are agreed with the employee after the contract has been concluded (Sections 74 et seq. HGB), these must be in writing because the employee should be warned of the dangers of a non-competition clause.

Vocational training contracts are effective without a written form requirement. However, the trainee is entitled to have the content of the contract set out in writing (Section 4 BBiG).

According to § 11 I AÜG (with reference to the NachwG), the hirer is obliged to record the essential content of the employment relationship in a document to be signed by him.

If a fixed-term or conditional employment contract is concluded, only the corresponding fixed-term or conditional clause of the contract must be in writing (Sections 14 IV, 21 TzBfG). If the written form is missing, the contract is deemed to have been concluded for an indefinite period if the employee asserts this within 3 weeks of the expiry of the period or the fulfilment of the condition subsequent (Sections 16, 17, 21 TzBfG).

It becomes problematic if the employee does not receive an employment contract from the employer. This leads to several questions regarding the wage claim.

It is important to understand that employment contracts are always valid, even if they were concluded verbally. This means that employees are also entitled to wages for services rendered on the basis of the employment contract.

The lawyers from LAWMUC will be happy to advise you in person, by telephone or by e-mail.