Labor Law (GDR)

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The labor law in East Germany is the set of state laws , regulations regulations on the design and development of labor relations between the workers and the companies in the GDR . It was also used to some extent in voluntary or otherwise public, social activities.

Labor law parties in socialism

Terminology

The terms employer and employee did not appear in the official language of the GDR because, from a Marxist point of view, the wage earner sells his labor and thus his work while the company receives the work from the worker.

The GDR labor code and other relevant sources speak of the company and the working people . For better orientation today, the terms employer and employee will continue to be used in the following paragraphs.

Employer side (companies)

The majority of the working people in the GDR were employed in state-run, mostly state- owned companies and institutions.

The share of private employers was reduced even before the GDR was founded. From the 1970s onwards there were only individual, mostly craft and trade private companies that, according to the law, were only allowed to have up to 10 employees.

Cooperatives were also important . The elected board members appeared as employers in today's sense. They administered and managed the cooperative property of the more or less voluntary members. There were z. B. the following forms of cooperatives:

In agriculture there were also nationally owned goods (VEG) in addition to the LPG . The respective state heads of the VEG acted as employers.

Employee side (working people)

The terms and conditions include in its scope :

  • Manual workers and employees, including homeworkers and apprentices (working people)
  • Civilian workers in the armed forces
  • Working people who work abroad on behalf of their company or competent state body
  • Rehabilitation candidates
  • Graduates from universities and technical schools
  • Schoolchildren and college students who work during the holidays

Basic content

Legal basis

Basic provisions on labor law issues contained:

Beginning and end of employment relationships

Labor law relationships were justified by employment or apprenticeship contracts , appointments or elections.

If the termination of an employment relationship was necessary, this should be done by mutual agreement by means of a termination or transfer agreement. In addition, there was notice of termination and dismissal without notice.

In the case of termination and dismissal, the General Terms and Conditions required union approval. If the responsible company union management (BGL) refused to give its consent, the higher-level union management or the higher-level board made a final decision at the company's request.

Special protection against dismissal, restrictions on the ability to terminate or additional consents to terminations and dismissals have been formulated for:

  • Fighter against fascism and persecuted by the Nazi regime
  • Pregnant women and mothers of young children
  • Military service workers or reservists
  • Workers in the event of incapacity for work, during quarantine and during vacation leave
  • Severely disabled and certain groups of sick people
  • Working people with 5 years or less until retirement
  • Young people under 18 years of age
  • Skilled workers until the end of the first year after completing their apprenticeship

Workers also had the right to object to amendment contracts or the termination of the employment relationship.

Activities beyond the employment relationship

The framework collective agreement and the company collective agreements regulated the income structure in the GDR economy . Additional services could not be formally claimed by the working people. But the political and moral pressure nonetheless led to benefits beyond the labor law obligations. In the activist movement , there were increases in efficiency in production that were only possible through motivated workers. The first officially celebrated activist was Adolf Hennecke . Later committed employees were recognized as activists in socialist work . The official appreciation of these achievements, emphasized by the party and state leadership, should not hide the fact that the employees often acted consciously in the interests of the company or society and actually performed services beyond the normative.

Artists, doctors and other groups

There were freelancers and employees in special professions, e.g. B. Artists, doctors, scientists, journalists, writers, etc.

Freelance workers' employment relationships were not regulated in the terms and conditions. They were subject to individual contracts.

Employees were subject to the terms and conditions. For you, however, special features apply, e.g. B. in Par. 178 (3), the General Terms and Conditions enabled special regulations for these professional groups with regard to overtime work. Furthermore, the various company collective agreements (BKV) contained their own regulations.

Social and voluntary activities

In the GDR great value was placed on social and voluntary activities. They should document the connection with the prevailing system and meet the requirement that meaningful and community-serving activity must be an internal concern of the people and not only be performed in exchange for remuneration. However, such activities were not separated from the Labor Code. If they matched ideological ideas, they were even protected by the terms and conditions and the following provisions.

In §182 of the AGB the exemption from work for the performance of state and social functions was regulated. Among other things, it stipulated that working people were to be released from work to participate in the preparation and implementation of social, sporting and cultural events in accordance with legal provisions, provided that this activity could not be carried out outside of working hours.

There was voluntary work , comparable to today, in all spheres of social life. They were organized or initiated by society or privately motivated.

Although all of these activities were not about employment relationships in the narrower sense, part of the occupational health and safety regulations regulated in Chapter 10 of the General Terms and Conditions also extended to them. For example, §220 (3) of the General Terms and Conditions stipulated that accidents in organized social, cultural or sporting activities are treated as accidents at work.

Labor disputes

In the socialist self-image, official society expected disputes only for the following reasons:

  • Violation of legality,
  • incomplete or unclear legal regulations,
  • Ignorance of the law.

Politically motivated or disputes in connection with wage claims, strikes, etc. a. The labor law of the GDR did not regulate conflicts.

Bodies to decide on labor disputes between companies and workers were:

The previously existing, independent labor courts were incorporated into the district and district courts in 1963.

However, labor rights were de facto restricted or even ineffective if the activity ran counter to the goals of the party ( SED ) or state power. Even if this has to be determined in many cases, it can nonetheless be stated that the vast majority of employment relationships existed according to the above-mentioned legal bases and disputes were settled accordingly.

In 1988 z. B. 15,137 labor law proceedings applied for before the ordinary courts (in addition there were about four times as many by the social courts ), of which 14,937 were completed. According to the subject of dispute, it was

  • 1,420 terminations of the employment relationship;
  • 3,679 claims for wages or remuneration including reclaims;
  • 4,517 material responsibility of the working people or the company (claims for damages);
  • 5,321 other labor disputes (p. 400)

Changes after 1989

After turning in the fall of 1989, a fundamental change in the political life of the GDR took place. The Volkskammer , which was freely elected for the first time on March 18, 1990 (constituted on April 5, 1990), sought a new direction for society in the GDR, which also led to changes in labor and social law.

Changes in labor and social law in the GDR

The aim of the changes in labor and social law was to abolish politically and ideologically justified components of the law in the GDR, to incorporate the results of the social discussion into the legislation and to adapt tried and tested structures of civil and federal German law. In the short time between April 5, 1990 and October 3, 1990, numerous laws of the GDR were repealed or amended and new laws passed by the Volkskammer through intensive parliamentary activity. Examples are:

  • Ordinance on the granting of early retirement benefits of February 8, 1990, Gbl. I No. 7 p. 42;
  • Ordinance on the introduction of public holidays of May 16, 1990, Gbl. I No. 27 p. 248;
  • Order on the promotion of employment of citizens who are disturbed in their social behavior of May 29, 1990, Gbl. I No. 34 p. 364;
  • Ordinance on changing employment relationships with foreign citizens who are employed and qualified on the basis of government agreements of the GDR of June 13, 1990, Gbl. I No. 35, p. 398;
  • Law amending and supplementing the Labor Code of June 22, 1990, Gbl. I No. 35 p. 371;
  • Employment Promotion Act (AFG) of June 22, 1990, Gbl. I No. 36 p. 403;
  • Social Insurance Act (SVG) of June 28, 1990, Gbl. I No. 38 p. 486;
  • Pension Adjustment Act of June 28, 1990, Gbl. I No. 38 p. 495;
  • Ordinance on the amendment or repeal of legal provisions of June 28, 1990, Gbl. I No. 38 p. 509;
  • Law on the establishment and procedure of arbitration boards for labor law of June 29, 1990, Gbl. I No. 38, p. 505;
  • Ordinance on transitional regulations until the first election of works councils according to the Works Constitution Act of July 11, 1990, Gbl. I No. 44, p. 715;

Transition to federal German law after reunification on October 3, 1990

The unification agreement regulated u. a. the transfer of existing Federal German law to the territory of the acceding GDR, as well as the law of the GDR that continues to apply. When it came into force, new laws came into force in the reunified Germany. At the same time, individual federal German laws were also suspended.

In the business area of ​​the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs, laws, ordinances and regulations were transferred within the framework of:

  • the labor code;
  • of technical and social occupational safety;
  • of social law including social, health, pension and accident insurance law;
  • labor market policy, employment promotion, unemployment insurance;
  • the law of compensation and rehabilitation;
  • promoting wealth creation

In the area of ​​responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in addition to the post-application laws and ordinances listed in the paragraph “Changes in labor and social law in the GDR” , older legal bases of the GDR in the current version continued to apply in part and for a limited period, e. B .:

  • Eighth and ninth implementing provision of January 2, 1957 for the regulation on compulsory social insurance - coverage of expenses in the event of accidents at work and occupational diseases; Gbl. I No. 3 p. 21 or Gbl. I No. 8 p. 82;
  • Ordinance on the expansion of insurance coverage in the event of accidents in the exercise of social, cultural or sporting activities of April 11, 1973, Gbl. I No. 22 p. 199;
  • Labor Code (AGB) of June 16, 1977, Gbl. I No. 18 p. 185;
  • Ordinance on social insurance for workers and employees (SVO) of November 17, 1977, Gbl. I No. 35 p. 373;
  • Ordinance on the voluntary supplementary pension insurance (FZR) of November 17, 1977, Gbl. I No. 35 p. 395;
  • Ordinance on compulsory social insurance for doctors, dentists, veterinarians and freelance cultural and artistic workers of December 9, 1977 (special edition Gbl. No. 942);
  • Ordinance on vacation of 28 September 1978, Gbl. I No. 33 p. 365;
  • Pension Ordinance of November 23, 1979, Gbl. I No. 43 p. 401;
  • Ordinance on the Prevention, Reporting and Assessment of Occupational Diseases of February 26, 1981, Gbl. I No. 12 p. 137 as well as its first implementing provision - List of Occupational Diseases of April 21, 1981, Gbl. I No. 12 p. 139;
  • Ordinance on special support for families with severely disabled children of April 24, 1986, Gbl. I No. 15 p. 243;
  • Regulations for special and supplementary pension systems

Web links

Wiktionary: Labor law  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Labor Code , text edition with subject index, Verlag Tribüne Berlin and Staatsverlag der DDR, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-329-00138-0
  2. ↑ Wording of the constitution of the GDR (pdf)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ddr-im-www.de  
  3. ↑ Law Gazette Part II , No. 26 p. 163 of February 19, 1969
  4. ↑ Act on the Protection of Mother and Children and Women's Rights , Journal of Laws No. 111 p. 1037 of September 27, 1950
  5. ^ Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance , Journal of Laws of I No. 36 p. 405 of December 1, 1977
  6. ^ Occupational Safety and Health Order 5 of August 9, 1973, Journal of Laws of I No. 44 p. 465
  7. ↑ VO on the promotion of the activities of innovators and rationalizers in the innovator movement , Journal of Laws II 72 No. 1 p. 1 of December 22, 1971
  8. ^ Current law , list of current legal provisions from October 7, 1949 to December 31, 1986, Staatsverlag der DDR, Berlin 1987
  9. ↑ Meyer's Universal Lexikon Volume 1 , VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig 1978, p. 134
  10. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of the GDR 1989 , 1st edition, Staatsverlag der DDR, Berlin June 1989, ISBN 3-329-00457-6
  11. ↑ a b c Treaty between the FRG and the GDR for the establishment of the unity of Germany - Unification Treaty - from August 31, 1990, special print from the collection of German Federal Law / [Federal Republic of Germany; GDR] - 1st edition -Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft 1990, ISBN 3-7890-2197-0