That warning comes from a series of recent rulings spanning wage claims, internal investigations, overtime disputes, and email delivery — all underscoring how sloppy record-keeping turns into financial liability.
Wage claims and missed deadlines
The Federal Labor Court (BAG) ruled in September 2022 that an employer who fails to properly inform staff about contractual or statutory deadlines may be on the hook for damages. The case involved an employee who worked from 1996 to 2016 and received too little pay from 2005 onward. The company tried to invoke a collective-bargaining exclusion period — a common tool that bars claims after a certain time.
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The court held that the employer must compensate for the lost wage claims if it did not properly notify the worker about the deadline. But it added an important limit: For the period before 2013, the claim failed. Why? Because the employee would not have asserted the then-unknown back pay even if he had known about the exclusion period. Without a causal link between the documentation failure and the damage, there is no liability.
Peeking into internal reports
Transparency obligations extend beyond the employment contract. The Munich Labor Appeals Court (LAG München) decided in June 2025 that workers have a right to view internal investigation reports — though not in full.
Under the GDPR, employees cannot demand a complete copy of the report. But because such documents become part of the personnel file, the employer cannot entirely block access. Redactions are permissible only when necessary to protect whistleblowers. The case is now under appeal before the BAG.
Overtime: burden stays with staff
Despite the European Court of Justice’s 2019 ruling that called for systematic recording of working time, German case law has hardly budged. The Lower Saxony Labor Appeals Court confirmed in 2021 that the burden of proof for overtime remains squarely on the employee.
In a dispute, workers must provide day-by-day, clock-by-clock evidence of hours worked beyond their contract. They must also show that the employer ordered the extra hours, tolerated them, or that the work was needed for the job.
Part-time pension — no discrimination
The BAG decided in June 2023 that pro-rata calculation of occupational pension benefits for part-time workers is lawful. A rule that bases benefits on the employment level during the last ten years before retirement does not violate equal-treatment principles.
Email risk
Sending critical documents such as termination notices by email carries a high risk. The Cologne Labor Appeals Court stressed in 2022 that the sender bears the full burden of proving actual receipt. There is no presumption that an email was received — unlike a registered letter.
The same principle applies to health & safety records: poor documentation invites liability. UK companies can protect themselves with a free toolkit that provides nine practical tools, including risk assessments, checklists, and a director liability guide — all ready to use. Download the free Health & Safety Toolkit
For companies across Germany, the message is clear: Precise documentation of all essential contract terms and collective-bargaining rules is a legal must. Cutting corners invites expensive liability cases.
