{"id":2989,"date":"2013-05-16T13:12:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T13:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/?p=2989"},"modified":"2025-12-09T18:43:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:43:01","slug":"arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/employment-law-the-consequences-of-missing-essential-elements-in-an-employment-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Employment Law: The Consequences of Missing Essential Elements in an Employment Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>ral Labor Court, May 15, 2013, Case No.: 10 AZR 325\/12<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The employment contract forms the basis for the employee\u2019s work within the employer\u2019s business. In addition to possibly applicable statutory, company, and collective bargaining regulations (such as collective agreements or works agreements), it plays a fundamental role in assessing the mutual claims and obligations of the contracting parties (employer and employee).<\/p>\n<p>The following topics are typically included in an employment contract, among other contents:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>General description of duties<\/li>\n<li>Working hours<\/li>\n<li>Scope of the employer\u2019s right to issue instructions<\/li>\n<li>Location of work performance<\/li>\n<li>Compensation arrangement<\/li>\n<li>Vacation arrangements<\/li>\n<li>Notice periods<\/li>\n<li>Limitation periods<\/li>\n<li>Penalty clauses<\/li>\n<li>Contractual and post-contractual non-competition clauses<\/li>\n<li>Reservation of voluntariness<\/li>\n<li>Reservation of revocability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If any of the necessary elements are not covered in the employment contract, this can lead to problems for both the employer and the employee in the event of a legal dispute.<\/p>\n<p>In the case mentioned above, the parties to the employment contract had not agreed on the working hours, and thus disputed their extent.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sachverhalt_des_gerichtlichen_Verfahrens\"><\/span><strong>Facts of the Case:<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Arbeitnehmerin_arbeitete_nach_Ansicht_der_Arbeitgeberin_nicht_genug\"><\/span>The employee did not work enough according to the employer\u2019s view.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The plaintiff was employed by the defendant as a \u201enon-tariff employee\u201c and received an annual salary of approximately 95,000 euros gross.<\/p>\n<p>According to the employment contract, the plaintiff was required to \u201ework even outside of regular working hours.\u201c The contract did not contain further regulations regarding working hours.<\/p>\n<p>By autumn 2010, the defendant claimed that nearly 700 hours of negative time had accumulated. Since October 2010, the defendant had therefore requested the plaintiff to maintain a daily working time of at least 7.6 hours or the company-standard weekly working time of 38 hours. The plaintiff did not comply with this.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Daraufhin_kurzte_die_Arbeitgeberin_das_Gehalt_der_Arbeitnehmerin\"><\/span>As a result, the employer reduced the employee\u2019s salary.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The defendant then reduced the plaintiff\u2019s salary by a total of approximately 7,000 euros gross until January 2011, because the plaintiff, according to the defendant, did not fulfill her work obligations completely and, for example, worked only 19.8 hours in December and 5.5 hours in January.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff sued against this reduction, arguing that she was not contractually obliged to work 38 hours per week.<\/p>\n<p>According to the employment contract, she was neither required to be at the company on specific days nor at specific times. Her work was also not to be measured in time units.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, she fulfilled her work obligations regardless of the time aspect by completing the tasks assigned to her by the defendant. Therefore, the defendant had to pay her full salary regardless of the number of hours worked.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Urteil_des_Bundesarbeitsgerichts\"><\/span><strong>Judgment of the Federal Labor Court<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Das_BAG_folgte_der_Ansicht_der_Vorinstanzen_und_gab_der_Arbeitgeberin_Recht\"><\/span>The BAG followed the opinion of the lower courts and ruled in favor of the employer.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>According to the BAG, the employment contract of the parties implied the company-standard working hours as the measure for the work to be performed.<\/p>\n<p>There were no indications for an agreement on a work obligation not measured by time.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Die_Arbeitgeberin_musse_fur_Nichtleistung_nicht_bezahlen\"><\/span>The employer does not have to pay for non-performance.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Thus, the defendant was not obliged to pay remuneration for periods in which the plaintiff had not worked.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Federal Labor Court<\/p>\n<p><b>Important Note: The content of this article has been prepared to the best of our knowledge and belief. However, due to the complexity and constant evolution of the subject matter, we must exclude liability and warranty.<\/b> Important Notice: The content of this article has been created to the best of our knowledge and understanding. However, due to the complexity and constant changes in the subject matter, we must exclude any liability and warranty.<\/p>\n<p>If you need legal advice, feel free to call us at 0221 \u2013 80187670 or email us at info@mth-partner.de.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/services\/employment-and-labour-law\/\">Lawyers in Cologne advise and represent you in labour law<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When drafting employment contracts, care must be taken to ensure that all necessary provisions are included to avoid costly labour court disputes later on. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3645],"tags":[2480,2530,2185,2187],"class_list":["post-2989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arbeitsvertraege-klauseln","tag-notwendige-inhalte-arbeitsvertrag","tag-rechtsanwalt-koeln-arbeitgeberschutz","tag-rechtsanwalt-koeln-kuendigungsschutzklage","tag-rechtsanwalt-koeln-verhaltensbedingte-kuendigung"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arbeitsrecht: Die Folgen fehlender notwendiger Inhalte eines Arbeitsvertrages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fehlen notwendige Inhalte des Arbeitsvertrages, kann dies sowohl auf Arbeitgeber- als auch auf Arbeitnehmerseite teuer werden.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/employment-law-the-consequences-of-missing-essential-elements-in-an-employment-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arbeitsrecht: Die Folgen fehlender notwendiger Inhalte eines Arbeitsvertrages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fehlen notwendige Inhalte des Arbeitsvertrages, kann dies sowohl auf Arbeitgeber- als auch auf Arbeitnehmerseite teuer werden.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/employment-law-the-consequences-of-missing-essential-elements-in-an-employment-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rechtsanwaltskanzlei\u00a0Tieben\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100054481000178\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-16T13:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-09T18:43:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"helmer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mth_Tieben\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mth_Tieben\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"helmer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Employment Law: The Consequences of Missing Essential Elements in an Employment Contract","description":"If necessary content is missing from the employment contract, this can be expensive for both the employer and the employee.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/employment-law-the-consequences-of-missing-essential-elements-in-an-employment-contract\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arbeitsrecht: Die Folgen fehlender notwendiger Inhalte eines Arbeitsvertrages","og_description":"Fehlen notwendige Inhalte des Arbeitsvertrages, kann dies sowohl auf Arbeitgeber- als auch auf Arbeitnehmerseite teuer werden.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/employment-law-the-consequences-of-missing-essential-elements-in-an-employment-contract\/","og_site_name":"Rechtsanwaltskanzlei\u00a0Tieben","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100054481000178","article_published_time":"2013-05-16T13:12:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-09T18:43:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"helmer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mth_Tieben","twitter_site":"@mth_Tieben","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"helmer","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/"},"author":{"name":"helmer","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#\/schema\/person\/fbcf627706a8a6151cec2217af8c74b3"},"headline":"Arbeitsrecht: Die Folgen fehlender notwendiger Inhalte eines Arbeitsvertrages","datePublished":"2013-05-16T13:12:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-09T18:43:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/"},"wordCount":560,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg","keywords":["notwendige Inhalte Arbeitsvertrag","Rechtsanwalt K\u00f6ln Arbeitgeberschutz","Rechtsanwalt K\u00f6ln K\u00fcndigungsschutzklage","Rechtsanwalt K\u00f6ln verhaltensbedingte K\u00fcndigung"],"articleSection":["Arbeitsvertr\u00e4ge &amp; Klauseln"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/","name":"Employment Law: The Consequences of Missing Essential Elements in an Employment Contract","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-16T13:12:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-09T18:43:01+00:00","description":"If necessary content is missing from the employment contract, this can be expensive for both the employer and the employee.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Arbeitsrecht-1-1-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":600,"caption":"Arbeitsrecht-3"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/arbeitsrecht-die-folgen-fehlender-notwendiger-inhalte-eines-arbeitsvertrages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arbeitsrecht","item":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/category\/arbeitsrecht-rechtsanwalt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Arbeitsvertr\u00e4ge &amp; Klauseln","item":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/category\/arbeitsrecht-rechtsanwalt\/arbeitsvertraege-klauseln\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Arbeitsrecht: Die Folgen fehlender notwendiger Inhalte eines Arbeitsvertrages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/","name":"Law firm Tieben","description":"Lawyer Tieben \/ Law firm Cologne","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#organization","name":"Law firm Tieben","url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo.png","width":254,"height":52,"caption":"Rechtsanwaltskanzlei\u00a0Tieben"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100054481000178","https:\/\/x.com\/mth_Tieben","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/helmer-tieben-09570226"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/#\/schema\/person\/fbcf627706a8a6151cec2217af8c74b3","name":"helmer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3308295754604f18007cf9e14e5984d1b864d3edea19e3681ff8c9354cd73e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3308295754604f18007cf9e14e5984d1b864d3edea19e3681ff8c9354cd73e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3308295754604f18007cf9e14e5984d1b864d3edea19e3681ff8c9354cd73e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"helmer"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7408,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions\/7408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mth-partner.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}