Employment contracts often contain clauses that contractually exclude employees’ entitlement to remuneration for the period until the validity of an employer’s dismissal of the employees has been clarified by a court. The Fifth Senate of the Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG)) has now issued a ruling on this matter in its decision of January 28, 2026 (Ref. No.: 5 AS 4/25) and—in deviation from its previous case law—ruled that such clauses are invalid under Section 134 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB)). Section 615 sentence 1 BGB, which regulates the obligation to continue paying remuneration in the event of default of acceptance, cannot be completely excluded in advance in the event of an invalid or only later effective termination by the employer.
