If there is little or nothing to do in the company, the employer may offer supposedly generous unpaid leave. Employees should pay attention to such advances.
Unpaid vacation? At first glance, that might sound like a good thing. But what if the employer asks his employees to take unpaid leave because of a bad order situation? Can companies order such a forced break?
"No," says Peter Meyer, a specialist lawyer for labor law in Berlin. Unpaid leave cannot be ordered unilaterally. The employer is obliged to employ and pay the employee on the agreed terms. And the employee is entitled to the agreed paid employment. "The employer can't say, now take unpaid vacation, I don't have anything to do for you right now." In principle, the employer bears the operational risk.
"There are other instruments for times of economic crisis, such as the regulation on short-time work benefits," says Peter Meyer. If at least ten percent of the employees have a loss of earnings of more than ten percent, employers and employees can agree on corresponding short-time work. The employee receives short-time work benefits from the employment agency for the loss of work in the amount of 60 or 67 percent of the net salary lost during the short-time work.
But even if the employee wants to take unpaid leave of his own accord, he is not entitled to it - but anything goes by mutual agreement. An agreement between the employer and the employee is then always necessary. Because normally applies: work performance against money - and that without ifs and buts. There is only one exception: there are regulations in the public service and for civil servants. But even these are not binding and depend on the employer agreeing.
