Costs of labor court proceedings in Germany
The costs of labor court proceedings in Germany are made up of judicial and extrajudicial costs.
When conducting first-instance labor court proceedings in Germany, court costs are levied in accordance with the Court Fees Act ( Section 1 (2) No. 4 GKG). This must be borne by the person who is subject to the legal dispute or, in the ArbG proceedings, the person who pays the costs in accordance with Section 29 No. 1 (court imposition) or No. 2 GKG (in the case of a comparison in equal parts; see also Section 98 ZPO ) gets imposed. Court costs are made up of the fee for the procedure and the expenses (Section 3 (2) GKG). If the entire procedure is ended in the first instance through a settlement or if the action is withdrawn before the disputed hearing, the fee does not apply (see preliminary remark 8 of Annex 1 to Section 3 (2) GKG). Only judicial expenses are then charged (e.g. delivery costs, witness fees, expert, interpreter and translator costs).
The defendant does not have to reimburse the opponent for the costs of calling in a legal representative or assistance (cf. § 12a Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 ArbGG). However, you can also conduct the legal dispute yourself before the labor court ( Section 11 (1) sentence 1 ArbGG). There is no compulsory proxy, for example in proceedings before the regional labor courts and the federal labor court (see Section 11, Paragraph 4, Sentence 1, ArbGG). The parties often choose to be represented by an association representative ( employers' association , trade union ), which is also permitted here and generally leads to little or no additional costs ( Section 11 (1) sentence 2 ArbGG).
All labor court proceedings begin before the labor court as the first instance, regardless of the amount in dispute.
The aforementioned costs fall under the term process costs .
reimbursement
According to Section 12a of the Labor Court Act, there is no reimbursement of costs in labor court proceedings in the first instance because representation in labor court proceedings was originally the domain of the representatives of trade unions and employers' associations, whose members are usually entitled to free legal protection in labor through their membership fee - and have social rights issues. In addition, an employee should not shy away from the effort of a lawsuit against the economically stronger employer for fear of a high claim for reimbursement. Lawyers were originally even excluded from representation before the labor courts of the first instance in minor matters. The traditional cost regulation has remained unchanged (for the first instance).
This is what distinguishes labor court proceedings from civil proceedings, in which the losing party usually has to reimburse the other party for the necessary legal fees. The jurisprudence concludes from this that the costs of extrajudicial prosecution are also not reimbursable, even if there is a substantive claim to reimbursement under civil law, e.g. B. as a claim for damages due to delay .
However, this restriction only applies to the costs of engaging an authorized representative and compensation for time lost. Other extrajudicial costs of the winning side (e.g. travel expenses to the appointment) must be reimbursed by the losing part in labor court proceedings - as in the other branches of the court. Under certain circumstances, this even leads to the reimbursement of legal fees, namely if the winning party saves its own travel expenses by commissioning the lawyer: then the legal fees are reimbursable up to the amount of the saved travel expenses.
Notwithstanding Section 12a, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, ArbGG, the parties can also agree on cost reimbursement by way of a settlement.
The importance of the inability to reimburse employees is severely limited by the widespread use of legal protection insurance and legal protection through union membership.
Advance payment
A special feature of the Court Fees Act for labor court proceedings is that an advance payment for court costs is not due when an action is brought ( Section 11 GKG). This should also enable the penniless employee to easily bring an action for protection against dismissal with a time limit, for example .
Appeal Procedure
The exclusion of reimbursement applies only in the first instance. In the appeal proceedings and in the third instance, the losing party pays all the necessary costs to the other party.
If the parties compare before the regional labor court , the appellate court fee does not apply; however, the court costs at first instance must be paid nonetheless. The parties are always billed for the expenses incurred in the appeal process.
Amount of costs
Calculation according to the object value
Both the court costs and the lawyer's fees depend on the value of the dispute. There is a privilege for dismissal protection proceedings; the value - which would have to be measured according to the usual rules with an annual salary - is namely limited to a quarterly salary in accordance with Section 42 (2) GKG. However, further applications (for example the lawsuit for the outstanding salaries; certificate creation; continuation of the pension scheme) increase the amount in dispute according to the amount claimed.
Court costs
The court costs at the labor court were almost negligible until 2004. There was an upper limit of 500 € and this upper limit was usually well below.
With the first cost law modernization act ( BGBl. 2004 I p. 718 ) and the second cost law modernization act of July 23, 2013 ( BGBl. I p. 2586 ) the legislature increased these fees significantly and removed the maximum limit. In the case of dismissal protection proceedings for an employee with a gross monthly salary of € 3,000, this leads to an object value of € 9,000 (three monthly salaries) and thus to court costs in the event of a disputed decision of € 444. The costs of labor court proceedings at first instance are 1/3 less than the "normal court fees", Appendix 1 No. 8210 GKG. If the employee sues for four salaries that are now outstanding after the termination (i.e. € 12,000), the value in question increases to € 21,000 and the court fee for this instance to € 690.
There is another fee in the appeal process, but this is increased by approx. 60%. In the example case (EUR 9,000 value in dispute), they are EUR 710.40 (Annex 1 No. 8220 GKG). In normal civil proceedings, court fees would be EUR 888 (Appendix 1 No. 1220 GKG).
Legal fees
These result from the Lawyers ' Remuneration Act (RVG), which replaced the old Federal Lawyers' Fees Regulations (BRAGO) on July 1, 2004 . Here, too, there was an increase in the individual fee rates compared to the previous situation; however, the evidence fee that had previously been charged for taking evidence is no longer applicable.
In the case of the above example, legal fees of € 1,267.50 net for a value in dispute of € 9,000 and € 1,855 net for a value in dispute of € 21,000 result in the event of a dispute.
In the event of a comparison, these fees would increase to € 1,744.50 net or € 2,597 net.
Additional fees arise in the appeal procedure, which are around 11.5% - in the case of a settlement in the appellate instance around 15% - higher than in the first instance.
In addition to the attorney's fees, there are expenses (postage, telephone, etc.), which are usually flat-rate at 20 €, as well as any travel costs. In addition, 19% sales tax is to be levied on the invoice amount.
Legal aid
Those who are unable to finance a process themselves receive the costs from the state treasury. However, he must repay these amounts if his financial situation improves later.
In most rules of procedure, the right to legal aid is dependent on the intended legal action having a sufficient chance of success and not being willful.
Individual evidence
- ↑ BAG, judgment of 25 September 2018, 8 AZR 26/18 .
- ^ LAG Hamm, judgment of February 26, 1991, 8 Sa 1497/90 .
