The airline Lauda Europe Ltd. and its predecessor Laudamotion GmbH suffered a legal setback before the Düsseldorf Regional Labor Court. The 13th chamber overturned the dismissals of three employees.

Laudamotion maintained bases in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf with aircraft and personnel stationed on site. In 2020 it was decided to close. In Baden-Württemberg, the company stated that the base cannot be continued, because too few employees would have accepted the new conditions. The Stuttgart Laudamotion employees were then the notice of termination was served.

The situation was different in Düsseldorf, where the majority of employees accepted the lower wages. Thus became announced the continuation of the base. The change to the successor Lauda Europe Ltd. already initiated. But then you changed your mind and the Ryanair Group withdrew completely from the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. The terminations were sent to the employees, both as Laudamotion GmbH and as Lauda Europe Ltd.

Many of the airline's German employees went before the local labor court. Some senates have in favor of the airline decided others in favor of workers. Ultimately, it can be assumed that some cases will end up before the Federal Labor Court. Most of the time it is about the question of whether Laudamotion GmbH and/or Lauda Europe Ltd. have terminated in due form and time and whether there is a transfer of business or not.

Lauda Europe Ltd. and Laudamotion GmbH terminate "as a precaution" again

The affected employees who went to court were not only dismissed once per company, but have now received at least four letters of termination. They are currently receiving their notices again, which, according to the documents available from Lauda Europe Ltd. and Laudamotion GmbH "as a precautionary measure" without further explanation.

The Ryanair Group should now see a high risk of litigation, because on March 13, 17, the 2022th Chamber of the Regional Labor Court in Düsseldorf rightly recognized in three cases that Lauda Europe Ltd. and Laudamotion GmbH are ineffective. The court fully followed the arguments of the plaintiffs and decided, among other things, that the letters were worded too vaguely. According to the court order, it was not clear when the employment relationships would be terminated.

Signed by Laudamotion boss Andreas Gruber, the “precautionary renewed termination of your employment relationship” was pronounced bilingually, in German and English, by registered letter last week. Lauda Europe Ltd., signed by Managing Director David O'Brien and CFO Richard Higgins, was in a particularly hurry and even had the letter, which was almost identical to the wording, sent by DHL Express express courier shipment - also in German and English. The two letters are almost identical and have the same date.

More lawsuits are filed

The so-called "precautionary terminations" mean that those affected must or can bring new complaints to the local labor court. Since some cases are pending before the Federal Labor Court, it also has to deal with the question of whether there will be a transfer of business from Laudamotion GmbH to Lauda Europe Ltd. in Düsseldorf. has come. The supreme court must also clarify whether the dismissals were effectively pronounced or, in the event of a transfer of business, the employees would enjoy temporary protection against dismissal. In the event of a decision in favor of the employees, they would have a so-called default of acceptance wage claim for the period from January 1, 2020 until the final decision of the Federal Labor Court.

Among other things, the employees argue in court that there will be a transfer of business from Laudamotion GmbH to Lauda Europe Ltd. by November 1, 2022 at the latest. has come. The dismissals of the two entrepreneurs, which were pronounced several times - most recently last week - would then be ineffective insofar as they would violate § 613a Para. 4 BGB in the event of a transfer of business. Since the filing of further lawsuits has been announced, the matter is likely to drag on even further. The exit is completely open.