From BZ/dpa
While some are looking forward to the big annual event in the company, others dread being trapped for hours next to the taciturn CEO. Is the Christmas party a must?
If the company’s Christmas party takes place outside of working hours, employees are not obliged to attend. The legal protection department of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) draws attention to this in a blog post.
Even if the employer sets the date for the party during working hours, employees do not necessarily have to celebrate with them.
According to the DGB legal protection, only those who take part in the celebration are released from work. Those who stay away have to work during the time.
By staying away, employees also do without food and drinks or other offers that the employer allows during the celebrations.
There is no right to have such voluntary offers paid out, for example, according to the article.
No entitlement to gifts
Even if comparatively valuable gifts are given, employees are not entitled to them if they do not attend the celebration. If there is no obligation to attend, the Christmas party is outside of the regular exchange relationship between employer and employee, as the DGB legal protection explains with reference to a judgment by the Cologne Labor Court (3 Ca 1819/13).
In this case, an employer had given all employees who attended the company Christmas party a tablet. Those who weren’t there missed out. According to the court, there was no unreasonable disadvantage.