A screw manufacturer from northern Germany did not pay vacation pay, although it was obliged to do so under the collective agreement. Since more than 200 of its employees are members of IG Metall, they sued for the vacation pay with the help of their union and DGB Rechtsschutz Braunschweig. The employer must now pay about 400.to pay € 000 in arrears.
The DGB Rechtsschutz office in Braunschweig has won vacation pay for over 200 members of IG Metall in accordance with the collective metalworkers' agreement.
Entitlement under metalworkers' collective agreement
The employees of the Peiner Schraubenhersteller PUT (Peiner Umformtechnik) were affected. According to the screw manufacturer, it had run into financial difficulties due to a change in shareholders and had not paid the vacation allowance.
The entitlement to the vacation pay results from the collective agreement for employees in the metal industry of Lower Saxony, to which the parties to the employment contract are both subject.
Thereafter, the vacation pay is 50% of the average daily pay per day of vacation. The vacation pay was paid at the 30th anniversary. June to pay.
Metalworkers sue for vacation pay
However, after the screw manufacturer failed to pay the vacation pay, the employees turned to the IG Metall trade union. On their behalf, DGB legal protection secretary Natalia Hoffmann sued for the vacation pay at the labor court.
In the hearing before the Braunschweig Labor Court for the first 100 or so employees, the employer offered to pay in installments, but Hoffmann rejected the offer. It was too clear that the employees are entitled to wages. And they were waiting, after all, since June.
The labor court then ordered the employer to pay the outstanding vacation pay, which was then promptly paid. In the end, the lawsuits of the other employees did not have to be decided because the employer paid "voluntarily".
By making the payment, the employer is engaging in pure damage control, because the fact that the claim exists was also clear to the employer. The employees all received their vacation pay at the end of October.
About 400.000 € disputed
Legal Protection Secretary Natalia Hoffmann estimates that the employees represented by DGB Legal Protection have a total of about 400.000 € have received, on average about 2.000 € per person.
For the employees, membership in the union has paid off. If you had had to hire a private lawyer, you would have had to bear his costs in any case, with the sums at hand about 500 € per procedure.
In a lawsuit before the labor court, it is irrelevant whether you win or lose: On the own lawyer costs one remains always hanging. And that even if, as in this case, it is completely clear that the claim exists.
However, the costs of legal representation are already included in the membership fee of the DGB trade unions, so that no further costs are incurred.