The German Federal Labor Court ruled on Wednesday that employers can permanently transfer their employees abroad if nothing to the contrary is agreed in the employment contract. A captain of the Ryanair subsidiary Malta Air went through the courts and lost. Low-cost airlines in particular often open and close bases. The affected staff are often offered alternative jobs abroad or are ordered to be transferred. However, anyone who does not want to move risks losing their job. A Malta Air captain who was to be transferred to a base outside Germany did not want to accept this and went to the labor court. The case went through the courts and was heard on Wednesday before the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt. The court ruled that transferring employees abroad is legal unless it is expressly excluded in the employment contract. This also applies if the employee is to be permanently deployed outside the Federal Republic of Germany. The judges also determined that the employer's right to give instructions applies not only nationally, but also internationally and therefore also at foreign locations. The decision was also justified by the fact that the legal situation in Germany does not provide for this right to give instructions to be limited to workplaces in the Federal Republic of Germany. The plaintiff captain was stationed in Nuremberg, but this base was closed and subsequently reopened. The latter circumstance played no role in the Federal Labor Court's decision. The pilot was supposed to do his work in Bologna, which he complained about. The pilot had already lost in the lower courts. Although this is a case-by-case decision, it is likely to be of particular importance in aviation.