
GRP Rainer Lawyers and Tax Advisors in Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and London – www.grprainer.com/en conclude: That is what the Federal Labour Court ruled (File number: 10 AZR 177/12). The judgement came in a dispute between an employer and an employee. The employer had paid his employees, who were under an employment contract, additional voluntary benefits such as a Christmas bonus. The employer argued that these payments were made without a commitment for the future and should be considered on a case by case basis. The employer did pay a Christmas bonus from 2004 to 2008. He also claimed that these payments were expressly made with a further explicit notification that they constituted no future obligation. When in 2009, the employer paid no Christmas bonus due to financial circumstances, the employee filed an action.