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The Federal Labor Court had to deal with the question of whether the deployment of a group of circus performers constituted a service contract or an employment relationship. While the circus performers assumed the establishment of an employment relationship and the employer's obligation to register for social security, the circus assumed a free service contract relationship without an obligation to pay social security contributions.

On July 23, 2015, the Act to Strengthen the Provision of Care in Statutory Health Insurance (SHI Care Strengthening Act) came into force. One of the aims of this law is to respond to the looming shortage of doctors in rural areas. The current finding here is that more and more practice owners are unable to find a successor and are having to close their practices. The law therefore contains incentives for doctors to set up in rural (underserved) areas. On the other hand, it creates opportunities for municipalities to set up medical care centers (MVZ) themselves and thus participate as a new "player" in outpatient medical care.

The consumer must be provided with a "common and reasonable free of charge" means of payment available in the online store. This is stipulated in the new Section 312a (4) BGB. According to the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main, the payment method "instant bank transfer" does not meet these criteria as it is "unreasonable". The unreasonableness exists because the consumer must provide the operator of "Sofortüberweisung" with account data, account statement data and PIN/TAN data as well as consent to the retrieval of account data in order to pay. Sofortüberweisung is therefore not prohibited. However, at least one other means of payment must be offered that is common, reasonable and free of charge.

The IT Security Act is a law that amends the BSI Act, the Atomic Energy Act, the Energy Industry Act, the Telemedia Act, the Telecommunications Act, the Federal Salaries Act, the Federal Criminal Police Office Act and the Act on the Structural Reform of Federal Fees Law. What is it all about?

YouTube videos may be embedded as frames, as is already common practice. This has now been decided by the BGH in its Reality II ruling. In Reality I, the BGH took a different view in 2013 and referred the question to the ECJ. However, the ECJ ruled that framing was permissible in 2014. The BGH has now transposed this ECJ ruling into German law. The judgment has not yet been published, so the details are not yet known.

Due to current events: According to case law, the sending of advertising e-mails is subject to a warning if the addressee has not expressly consented beforehand. A newsletter that reports on industry events is also considered an advertising email.

Late marriage clauses prevent entitlement to a company widow's pension if the marriage was not concluded until after a specified age limit. In the opinion of the Federal Labor Court, such clauses violate the prohibition of age discrimination pursuant to Section 7 (2) AGG.

Current developments in medical device law require adjustments to the contracts normally used in supply chains. We would like to draw your attention to some of these points with this information. In addition, we would like to draw your attention to a number of erroneous or ineffective clauses in contracts for medical device supply chains, which we have recently encountered more frequently in our advisory practice:

If age plays a role in the criteria for which employees are to be dismissed, this constitutes age discrimination in accordance with Section 7 AGG. A dismissal in a small company, in which the Dismissal Protection Act does not apply, can also be age-discriminatory and therefore invalid due to a breach of Section 7 AGG.

LSG Baden-Württemberg from 25.06.2015:Additional personnel costs for 1:1 individual care in integration assistance facilities can only be reimbursed by the funding body on the basis of an individual service agreement between the service provider and the funding body in accordance with Section 75 (4) SGB XII.

The burning of privately procured video and audio media during working hours and using company resources on CD and DVD blanks procured at the employer's expense justifies termination without notice for conduct-related reasons.

The lower pay for teachers of foreign origin with a German teaching qualification who teach another language in addition to the regular teaching offer is inadmissible in comparison to teachers of foreign origin with a foreign teaching qualification who teach the same language.