A chamber hearing was held before the Cologne Labour Court on 19.10.2017 in the legal dispute 11 Ca 4400/17. Since the beginning of 2014, the plaintiff has been employed as a professional football player by the defendant, which runs the match operations of Viktoria Köln. With his action, the plaintiff challenges the limitation of the term of his employment contract to 30.06.2017.
The plaintiff was unsuccessful in his action.
If the duration of the fixed-term contract exceeds two years, a factual reason is generally required in accordance with section 14 (1) of the Part-Time Working and Fixed-term Contract Act (Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz, TzBfG) in order for the fixed-term contract to be effective. In a ruling of 17 February 2016 (4 Sa 202/15), the Regional Labour Court of Rhineland-Palatinate had to deal with the question of the extent to which the special features of professional football are to be taken into account in this legal hurdle. In contrast to the previous instance (Mainz Labour Court, judgement of 19.03.2015 - 3 Ca 1197/14), the Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Labour Court assumed that there was an objective reason for the fixed term due to the special features of the legal relationship between a Bundesliga club and a professional player. This case is currently pending before the Federal Labour Court (7 AZR 312/16).
The Cologne Labour Court considered the fixed-term employment contract to be effective due to the special features in the field of professional football. The "specific nature of the work" justified the time limit, irrespective of the lower earning potential in the regional league.
The decision is not legally binding. An appeal against the decision can be filed with the Cologne Regional Labour Court.
Source: Press release of the Labour Court Cologne
GoldbergUllrich Attorneys at Law 2017
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
