Seniority
Seniority (also employment period , of service or tenure is) in the HR , the uninterrupted duration of the employment relationship between a worker and the same employer .
General
The calculation of seniority starts with the setting of a worker in an employment relationship and ends with the termination of employment with the same employer. During the term of service in the public sector played a role, in which the private sector of seniority talk. From the definition it follows that an employee can also be employed in several companies in succession if they belong to the same group . This also applies to the crediting of periods of service in the public sector if periods of service were completed with other public employers. Whether the employee has actually worked ( maternity leave , parental leave , time off ) is irrelevant. A transfer of business continues the employment relationship ( Section 613a BGB ), so that employment does not end. Times of a previous employment relationship with the same employer can be counted towards the length of service if both employment relationships are closely related in terms of time and subject matter; Interruptions do not count.
Long job tenure of workers is a sign of their loyalty to the company ( loyalty ) to the employer. In Germany it is rewarded by law , collective bargaining agreement or employment contract . Loyalty to the company can also emanate from the employer through employee loyalty, for example through working conditions up to and including non-dismissal .
history
Under Frederick II , the General Prussian Land Law came out in February 1794 , which was the first comprehensive statutory regulation of civil service law, and in Part II, Title 10, the chapter "On the rights and obligations of the servants of the state" contained. For the first time, civil service was provided as a life occupation. Since this law, the concept of seniority has played a major role in civil servants . The king has repeatedly said that when it comes to bonuses or promotions, he primarily pays attention to skill , diligence and ability and less consideration of anciency . In December 1748 he made it clear in a ranking dispute that he did not value officials according to their seniority, but according to talent and usefulness .
After the Civil Service Act in January 1937 began seniority than previous sole basis for calculating the salary on the date of appointment in the post and came for the regulation of remuneration , but not for fixing the general seniority, the calculation of pensionable service or the order Considerations for promotions. The general seniority began in the entry point of the career at the completion of the 27th year of life. The new Federal Civil Service Act (BBG) came into force in July 1953, the revised version in February 2009. In addition to the salary period, civil service law also includes the retirement age , which is important for the calculation of retirement pay , as well as the anniversary service age .
Public service
Civil servants in Germany cannot be dismissed after their probationary period has expired . The tenure of the remaining employees in the public sector ( workers and employees ), however, depends according to § 34 para. 2 TVöD of their age (age 40) and seniority (15 years of service) from. The term employment time is not clear, but can be used and understood differently depending on the regulatory context. While periods of employment with previous employers in the public service are allowed to be offset in the case of pay groups , vacation or anniversary bonuses , previous periods of employment in the public service do not count in the case of non-termination. Therefore, when changing employers within the public service, previous periods of employment are to be taken into account, but not in the case of ordinary non-termination. According to this ruling, the employment period begins again when changing employers due to the fact that it cannot be dismissed.
In addition, seniority is an essential criterion in public administration for allowances and promotions , which are graded according to level of experience. Seniority is also associated with special leave , bonuses , benefits , pension entitlements or rationalization protection (only in the private sector). The official substitute can also be based on seniority. After § 21h GVG is at courts -born representative of the Chief Justice of the Vice President , in his absence, the senior judge .
The Federal Salary Act (BBesG), which has been in force for civil servants, judges and soldiers since June 2009, provides in Section 32a (1) BBesG that advancement to the next higher level of experience must take place after certain periods of service in which performance in accordance with requirements has been performed (periods of experience ). When moving up the level of experience, periods of part- time employment are taken into account in the same way as those of full-time employment.
According to Section 43b BBesG, the commitment bonus for temporary soldiers depends on their length of service.
Private sector
Length of service plays a central role in employment relationships in the private sector. On the one hand, protection against dismissal only arises after 6 months of employment with the company ( Section 1 (1) KSchG ), on the other hand, the employee's protection of existing rights increases with increasing length of employment. The longer he has been with the company, the more difficult it is to terminate it. The law assumes that protection against dismissal should improve with increasing seniority. Section 622 (2) of the German Civil Code (BGB) provides for notice periods staggered according to seniority . Severance payments under labor law increase with increasing length of service either by virtue of the law (Section 1a (1) KSchG, Section 9 (1) KSchG, Section 10 (1) KSchG, Section 113 (1) BetrVG ) or through a collective agreement or employment contract. According to Section 3 Paragraph 1 Clause 1 KSchG, a company-related dismissal is socially unjustified if the employer has not or not sufficiently taken into account the length of service, the age, the maintenance obligations and the severe disability of the employee in the social selection of the employee. Also the anniversary depends on seniority, with the most in company agreements , the payment of a scaled according to seniority anniversary bonus (25, 40 or 50 years of employment) is promised. Similar regulations can also be found in the public service.
The Lockstep system is based solely on the length of service in its pay differentiation . The Betriebsrentengesetz from December 1974 provides for vesting of occupational pensions ago after a certain length of service.
economic aspects
Increasing seniority brings workers higher work experience and routine with them and can work performance and labor productivity increase and reduce costs . In addition, a long tenure saves the employer friction costs of recruitment . As seniority increases, so can a career . It is sometimes argued that a long period of service demonstrates an employee's loyalty to his employer (company loyalty), but it can on the other hand be a sign of a lack of flexibility . Long periods of service then lead to low staff turnover and vice versa.
Delimitations
The seniority stems from a principle of promotion, according to which officers were entitled to promotions based on their seniority. It was later carried over to the entire civil service system. The seniority principle , on the other hand, is based on age and states that rank and pay should increase in line with seniority; it can be found in the public service, but in the private sector it is largely displaced by performance-related pay .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rolf Straubel : Nobles and civil officials in the Frederician judicial and financial administration. Selected aspects of a social restructuring process and its background (1740–1806) (= publications of the Brandenburg State Main Archives . Volume 59 ). BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1842-6 , p. 324 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Arthur Brand, Das Deutsche Beamtengesetz (DBG) , 1942, § 38 Note 4, p. 435
- ↑ Vocational School Teachers Association Lower Saxony: The three seniority (PDF; 503 kB). March 2009
- ^ BAG, judgment of January 27, 2011, Az.:6 AZR 590/09 = BB 2011, 948
- ↑ BAG, judgment of February 22, 2018, Az .: 6 AZR 137/17 = BAGE 162, 76
- ↑ BAG, judgment of February 22, 2018, Az .: 6 AZR 137/17
- ↑ Dagmar Kaiser, Existing and severance payment protection through seniority? , in: Festschrift for Horst Konzen on his seventieth birthday, 2006, p. 396
- ↑ Part-time in public service. In: beamten-informationen.de. Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
- ↑ Dagmar Kaiser, Existing and severance payment protection through seniority? , in: Festschrift for Horst Konzen on his seventieth birthday, 2006, p. 381
