Compliance is becoming increasingly important for companies. Not least the diesel scandal or the Wirecard case have made the public aware of the importance of a healthy corporate culture and a functioning compliance system for a company. Compliance describes the adherence of companies to rules. If a company adheres to the law and its own guidelines, it is "compliant". Monitoring compliance is also of great importance. This is due in particular to the increasing regulation of many legal or business areas. In addition, companies are also interested in preventing breaches of rules in their own interest. If breaches of the rules become public, the company's reputation can be damaged, its credit rating can deteriorate considerably and customers can turn away from it. Under certain circumstances, there is also the threat of high fines and other sanctions.

In this article you will find out in which areas of labour law you have to pay particular attention to legal obligations.

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Working Hours Act

As an employer, you also have to observe a large number of regulations in labour law. For example, the Working Hours Act stipulates that employees may not work more than eight hours or a maximum of ten hours on a working day and must have an uninterrupted rest period of at least eleven hours after work. If the rest period is interrupted even for a short time, for example by answering an email or spreading work over the day in a home office, the rest period starts again. Violations may result in a fine of up to 30,000.00 euros. Criminal penalties may be imposed for repeated violations.

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Minimum wage

As an employer, you must also ensure that the remuneration of your employees does not fall below the legal minimum wage and that you pay social security contributions properly. The new federal government wants to increase the minimum wage to 12.00 euros per hour this year, so that significantly more employment relationships will be affected by the legal minimum wage requirements. Violations of the Minimum Wage Act can result in fines of up to 500,000 euros. Companies can also be excluded from awarding public contracts.

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Temporary work

For temporary agency workers, you do not only have to monitor compliance with the minimum wage. According to the so-called equal pay principle, temporary agency workers even have a legal right to be paid like the company's permanent employees. Furthermore, they may not work for a company for more than 18 months without a prior three-month break. If you are an employer covered by a collective agreement, you have to observe further specifics.

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Data protection

Compliance plays an increasingly important role in employee data protection. Personal data of your employees may only be collected as sparingly as possible and only on the basis of consent or another authorisation. If the data is no longer needed, you must delete it in a timely manner. Data protection authorities are increasingly monitoring compliance with data protection regulations. Employees are also increasingly asserting their rights to information under data protection law. If employers violate employee data protection or fail to comply with requests for information in a timely and proper manner, they may face fines and claims for damages from employees.

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Compliance structures

To ensure compliance, you should set up the necessary structures and clarify internal responsibilities. From a certain size, you should employ compliance officers in your company who are professionally independent and responsible for the organisation and monitoring. According to the requirements of European law, companies of 50 employees or more must also implement a whistleblower system in the future, through which employees can report legal violations in the company.

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About the author, lawyer Cord Vernunft

This article was written for us by the Berlin lawyer Cord Vernunft from the Andersen law firm. Andersen is a partner of Sawayo.

Cord Vernunft advises companies in all areas of individual and collective labour law. He specialises in providing employment law advice on transactions and on the subsequent integration and restructuring of companies, including in the areas of co-determination, staff reductions, harmonisation of working conditions and company pension schemes. The focus of his work includes providing ongoing advice to companies on all issues of works constitution law. In this context, he frequently conducts negotiations with works councils and also acts as an assessor in conciliation boards. Cord Vernunft provides comprehensive advice on the drafting of employment contracts (e.g. variable remuneration models) and the termination of legal relationships between companies and their governing bodies or employees. In addition, Cord Vernunft is a highly experienced litigator who regularly appears before labour and civil courts. For more information, please visit the website of our partner Andersen: https://de.andersen.com/de/

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