The Federal labour court has strengthened in a landmark judgment, the right to information of workers in case of disputes, the equal pay of women and men. In addition to workers, also thousands of self-employed persons who derive their income predominantly from a employer have a right to information about the earnings of their colleagues with similar tasks. The Federal labour court ruled on Thursday in Erfurt, in its first ruling on pay transparency act, the information Employed is right for the employees, similar to (8 AZR 145/19).

The law, which since mid-2017, aims to help the wage gap between women and men in Germany, still, is small. The group of workers similar to employees that was not mentioned in the law explicitly. “This group is mandatory according to the decision of the law,” said a court spokeswoman.

The busy term is to be interpreted with a view to the European law, more than in Germany, it was said at the time of sentencing in Erfurt. The European law is the distinction between employees and workers don’t know similar, said Nora Markard, a law Professor at the University of Münster. She is also a Board member of the society for freedom rights.

Often journalists, computer scientists, lawyers, and architects

affected To workers similarly employed in Germany according to the labour law, journalists, computer scientists, lawyers, architects, as well as a number of service providers of learning, among other things, often.

a television journalist. The regional labour court of Berlin-Brandenburg had been denied their right to information in accordance with the fee transparency act, the Revision of the Federal labour court however, allowed.

The parties had agreed that there was due to the Corona-pandemic no oral hearing before the Federal labour court.

effect of the law is controversial

the effect of The fee transparency act, in the case of the closure of the wage gap between women and men is controversial. It applies to private and public companies with at least 200 employees.

The employer near Institute of the German economy (IW) moved from an examination in the past year, the conclusion that it had the effect of Closing the wage gap so far. Only a few Employees would use the right to information. Also, the DGB expressed critical because it applies to determining a minimum number for small businesses busy.