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Coca-Cola bottling in Brandenburg: tens of millions of euros in dispute
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Jens Kalaene / dpa
Night work is harmful to health.
To compensate for the strain on the body, there is free time – and extra money.
According to a recent landmark ruling by the Federal Labor Court, these surcharges may vary.
The background to this is a dispute that has been smoldering for years about surcharges in the German beverage and food industry.
The tenth Senate decided on Wednesday in Erfurt in a case that affects the beverage company Coca-Cola in East Germany that collective agreements can provide for different levels of night surcharges.
The case from Brandenburg dealt with the question of whether a surcharge of 50 percent can be paid for occasional night work - but only a lower surcharge of 20 percent for regular shift work at night.
There is no legal objection to this, said the presiding judge, Waldemar Reinfelder, when the verdict was pronounced.
400 complaints alone before the Federal Labor Court
However, an objective reason is required for such unequal treatment, "which must be recognizable from the collective agreement".
That is the case with Coca-Cola.
In addition to health protection, the parties to the collective agreement could pursue other purposes.
It is up to them how they compensate for the poorer predictability of occasional night work.
According to experts, the BAG decision has a signal effect for around 6,000 complaints about night work surcharges at the labor courts.
It is about different collective agreements for tens of thousands of employees.
It's about a value in dispute, "which has now added up to a good 50 million euros," according to the union Food-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG).
400 lawsuits alone have now made it to the BAG.
Court President Inken Gallner had recently announced: "This will be one of the big issues at the Federal Labor Court in 2023." Negotiations and decisions on night work surcharges are also expected in March, May and June.
The NGG objects to a collective agreement which it concluded in 1998 with the responsible employers' association and which is used by Coca-Cola.
The union would like to have the regulation off the table.
A night worker who regularly works at night had complained – and demanded that she be reimbursed the difference between 20 and 50 percent.
The lower courts decided their case differently.
It caused a sensation because it was submitted to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Federal Labor Court in 2020.
However, the European judges did not decide: It is not a question of European law, the decision lies solely with the highest German labor judges.
File number: 10 AZR 332/20
apr/dpa
