The Court rules that an employee's obligation to work overtime whenever requested by his employer is an essential element of the contract or employment relationship which must be notified to the employee in writing
Mr Lange was employed as from 1 June 1998 as a lathe operator by Georg Schünemann GmbH. The contract of employment, dating from 23 April 1998, gave no details concerning overtime.
Mr Lange refused to work overtime at the request of his employer in order to fulfil orders within time-limits agreed with a customer, for which reason his employer, by letter of 15 December 1998, terminated his contract with effect from 15 January 1999.
Mr Lange brought an action against his dismissal before the Arbeitsgericht (Labour Court) Bremen. He is at odds with his employer as to what was agreed between them, when Mr Lange was recruited, with regard to overtime.
The German court sought a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Communities on the application of Community law in relation to the obligation of employers to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship. Must the employer bring to the employee's notice a term by virtue of which the employee is required to work overtime whenever requested to do so by his employer?
The Court ruled that the relevant directive laid down a general obligation on the employer to inform employees of all the essential elements of the contract or employment relationship. The list of such elements contained in the directive was not exhaustive. Therefore, a term under which an employee is required to work overtime whenever requested to do so by his employer is one of the matters which must be brought to the employee's notice in writing.
The Court made it clear that such information may, where appropriate, in the same way as information concerning normal working hours, take the form of a reference to the relevant laws, regulations and administrative or statutory provisions or collective agreements.
The Court stated that no provision of the directive requires an essential element of the contract or employment relationship (in this case, the obligation to work overtime) that has not been brought to the notice of the employee to be regarded as inapplicable. Non-application of that element is not automatic, and the Member States retain the power to define the appropriate penalties in the event of failure to provide an employee with information regarding an essential element of the contract or employment relationship.
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