SOKA-BAU
| SOKA-BAU
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|---|---|
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| legal form | ULAK: economic association ZVK: AG |
| Seat | Wiesbaden |
| management | Gregor Asshoff Gerhard Mudrack |
| Branch | Construction |
| Website | www.soka-bau.de |
SOKA-BAU (Sozialkassen der Bauwirtschaft) is the common umbrella brand for the vacation and wage compensation fund of the building industry (ULAK) and the additional pension fund of the building industry AG (ZVK).
The vacation and wage equalization fund for the construction industry and the supplementary pension fund for the construction industry are joint institutions of the contracting parties in the construction industry. In particular, the vacation and wage compensation fund is an essential part of construction labor law .
Vacation and wage equalization fund for the construction industry
The vacation and wage equalization fund for the construction industry was founded in 1949 as the “non-profit vacation fund for the construction industry”. The purpose of the fund is to secure vacation pay for construction workers. In 1955 the wage equalization fund for the construction industry was founded. The two funds have been working together as a holiday and wage compensation fund for the construction industry since 1975.
Leave procedure
The vacation pay for commercial employees in the construction industry is financed through a monthly contribution to be paid by the employer, which is calculated from the gross wages of the commercial employees.
Due to the still high fluctuation in the construction industry (36% of all employees work for the same employer for less than six and 53% for less than twelve months in a calendar year), employees often do not have the opportunity to take their vacation together. The Federal Vacation Act provides that vacation must be granted continuously, but according to the law, full vacation entitlement only arises after half a year of employment. In addition, insolvencies are relatively common in the construction industry, which is why vacation pay would be at risk in these cases.
To prevent this, the ULAK holds the money in trust and pays it back to the construction company after the worker has taken his vacation. However, this also relieves employers of the risk of having to pay for an employee's full vacation entitlement even though they are not employed in the company all year round.
SOKA-BAU also carries out the holiday procedure for industrial workers who are posted to construction sites by foreign companies in Germany. This is intended to create equal opportunities between German and foreign construction companies and secure basic employee rights.
Vocational training
The entire industry participates in vocational training in the construction industry. Each company pays a contribution to the ULAK, depending on the gross wages of the industrial workers it employs.
In return, employers or the inter-company training centers receive a large part of the costs for the training remuneration and for inter-company training from the ULAK for each trainee.
Securing working time accounts
Working time credits of up to 150 hours can arise as part of the so-called greater flexibility in working hours. With the SIKO flex security account, employers can protect their employees against bankruptcy. In the event of bankruptcy, the credit is retained and paid out directly to the employee.
Supplementary pension fund of the building trade AG
The additional pension fund of the construction trade VVaG was founded in 1957 to compensate for disadvantages in the statutory pension insurance for construction workers due to periods of non-employment during the bad weather period. ZVK has been a stock corporation since 2007.
Pension benefit / collective pension construction
From January 1, 2016, the collective agreement on additional retirement benefits in the construction industry (TZA Bau) applies. With the associated introduction of the tariff pension for construction, the pension subsidy that has existed since 1957 and is largely pay-as-you-go will be gradually replaced. The employer-financed construction pension is funded and applies to all employees and trainees in the construction industry.
Collective supplementary pension
In 2001, as part of the Retirement Income Act, the collective additional pension, a voluntary supplementary pension for employees in the construction industry, was introduced. Usually, the benefits are financed by deferred compensation and the employer's share provided for by the collective agreement; the method of implementation is the pension fund .
Social security contributions
The services of the compulsory procedures are paid by the employer as additional ancillary wage costs for commercial employees via wage-related contributions. Flat-rate contributions are paid for employees. For commercial employees, the social security contribution in 2018 was 20.40% in West Germany, 17.20% in East Germany, 26.55% in West Berlin and 23.55% in East Berlin (based on the gross wage bill).
criticism
The obligation to contribute to the social security funds of the construction industry depends on whether it is a construction company. Die Zeit wrote in August 2012:
“However, entrepreneurs from neighboring sectors associate the abbreviation SOKA-Bau with a threat rather than a social benefit. With hefty contribution demands, the fund brings unsuspecting businesses into payment difficulties. "
Numerous proceedings are pending before the competent labor courts in Wiesbaden and Berlin . The demands of Soka-Bau cause irritation, incomprehension and in the worst case can lead to economic ruin. It is often overlooked that the contributions flow back completely back into the industry. The companies even receive a large part directly. In principle, at least 70 percent of the social security contributions are paid for the holiday procedure. These contributions are paid in the amount of the claims of the industrial workers to vacation remuneration, which are already stipulated in the collective agreement, and would therefore arise even without the social security fund procedure. If an employer grants vacation, he receives the corresponding contributions back in full. In the case of companies providing training, the reimbursement rate is significantly higher. In some cases, they even receive higher benefits than they pay total social security contributions. The remaining portion of the contribution flows into the company pension scheme for employees in the sector, who acquire direct claims against the ZVK.
“If a company devotes more than half of its working hours to 'construction activities', it is obliged to transfer contributions to Soka-bau. However, the term 'construction work' is broadly defined; 42 categories such as 'drilling work' or 'prefabricated construction work' are listed in the collective agreement. It's not really selective. 'Screw in guard rails or set up scaffolding - all of this can be subject to Soka' [...]. ”In January 2017, the collective bargaining parties in the construction industry agreed with the building construction associations on better coordination of their collective bargaining work and clarifications in the delimitation of the industries . They stipulated this again in a detailed agreement in October 2017 ( Main Association of the German Construction Industry ). This creates even more legal certainty for companies. In practice, however, the number of legal proceedings relating to the area of application of the social security fund proceedings was already low, with around 200 proceedings annually in a total of around 78,000 companies that were required to participate.
All procedures for checking the effectiveness of declarations of general binding nature of the building collective agreements at the Berlin Administrative Court have been terminated without a decision on the matter. The Hessian State Labor Court had already ruled in summer 2014 that the general binding declarations of the building collective agreements issued by the BMAS in 2008 and 2010 were effective. The Federal Labor Court has meanwhile rejected the appeal raised against this as inadmissible. The regional labor court of Berlin-Brandenburg decided in the first instance with rulings from spring and summer 2015 that the general binding declarations of the building collective agreements issued by the BMAS between 2006 and 2014 were effective.
However, with two decisions of September 21, 2016, the Federal Labor Court ultimately overturned the decisions of the Berlin-Brandenburg State Labor Court regarding the generally binding declarations of the VTV from 2008, 2010 and declared these generally binding declarations invalid for formal reasons. The court annulled the general binding declaration of the VTV of 2014 on the grounds that there was no sound basis for the assumption of the Federal Ministry of Labor that at the time of the adoption of the AVE VTV 2014 in the construction industry at least 50% of the employees falling under the scope of the collective agreement with employers bound by collective bargaining agreements were busy. Thus, the legal requirements for a declaration of general applicability did not exist. The court expressly emphasized the socio-political importance of the social security fund proceedings and their compatibility with constitutional and European law requirements. Due to the lack of ministerial involvement in a few years' time and the incorrect calculation when examining the requirements for the declaration of general application, it nevertheless assumed that it was ineffective. The majority of experts described these resolutions as surprising and led to a legally confusing situation. As a result, the social security funds and thus also the benefit entitlements of employers and employees were threatened. The legislature has therefore reacted quickly and with the Social Fund Procedure Security Act declared all relevant collective agreements as well as the currently valid collective agreements since 2006 to be generally binding for all companies and employees in the construction industry. The legislature has thus restored the legal status that would have applied under the generally binding declarations anyway.
On May 25, 2017, the law to secure social security procedures in the construction industry (SokaSiG, published in the Federal Law Gazette, Federal Law Gazette 2017 I, p. 1210) came into force.
On March 21, 2018, the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt determined the validity of the generally binding declarations of the VTV as well as the BRTV, the BBTV and the TZA-Bau for the period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. In particular, there was a public interest in the general binding declaration of these collective agreements, the court ruled (decision of the Federal Labor Court Erfurt of March 21, 2018, reference number 10 ABR 62/16).
It thus confirmed the decision of the Berlin-Brandenburg State Labor Court on July 21, 2016.
This was the first time that the Federal Labor Court had to rule on declarations of general application that were issued after the Law on Strengthening the Collective Bargaining Authority came into force. It can therefore be assumed that it will also constitute a key decision for future court proceedings on the effectiveness of declarations of general application that were issued after the Act to Strengthen the Collective Bargaining Authority on August 16, 2014.
Web links
Additional pension fund of the Baugewerbes AG in the company database of BaFin
Individual evidence
- ↑ Social security contribution for commercial employees from 01/01/2016. In: soka-bau.de. Retrieved April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares: The craftsman's fright. : The social security of the construction industry brings small businesses to the brink of ruin . In: Zeit.de, August 4, 2012; Retrieved July 29, 2013
- ↑ Effectiveness of a generally binding declaration . In: www.gerichtsentscheidungen.berlin-brandenburg.de. April 17, 2015, accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ↑ Effectiveness of the generally binding declaration of collective bargaining agreements for the construction industry. In: www.gerichtsentscheidungen.berlin-brandenburg.de. July 8, 2015, accessed April 14, 2016 .
- ^ Order of the Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labor Court of July 9, 2015, reference number 3 BVL 5003/14
- ^ Order of the Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labor Court of August 21, 2015, reference number 6 BVL 5006/14
- ↑ Order of the Berlin-Brandenburg State Labor Court of August 4, 2015, reference number 7 BVL 5007/14 and 7 BVL 5008/14
- ↑ Ineffectiveness of the generally binding declarations of collective bargaining agreements - social security scheme in the building trade (AVE VTV 2008 and 2010). September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Ineffectiveness of the generally binding declaration of a collective bargaining agreement - social security procedure in the building trade (AVE VTV 2014). September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016 .