Payroll in paper form?

The parties are in dispute over whether payroll statements must be provided electronically or in paper form.

 

The plaintiff is employed as a sales assistant in the defendant’s retail business. The defendant operates a digital employee mailbox, where all personnel documents, including payroll statements, are made available and can be accessed by employees via a password-protected online portal. If employees do not have access to a private device to retrieve documents stored in the digital employee mailbox, the employer must provide an alternative option to view and print the documents at the workplace. The plaintiff objected to the exclusive electronic provision of payroll statements and requested to continue receiving them in paper form.

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The Regional Labor Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. However, the defendant's appeal before the Ninth Senate of the Federal Labor Court (BAG) was successful, leading to the case being referred back to the Regional Labor Court.

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The BAG ruled that an employer generally complies with the statutory text form requirement under § 108 Para. 1 S. 1 of the German Trade Regulation Act (GewO) by providing payroll statements via a digital employee mailbox. The employee's right to receive a payroll statement constitutes a duty of collection ("Holschuld"), meaning the employer is not responsible for ensuring the statement is actually received by the employee. However, the employer must take into account the legitimate interests of employees who do not have private access to the digital mailbox. A final decision by the Senate was not possible, as it had not yet been determined whether the introduction and operation of the digital employee mailbox fall under the jurisdiction of the group works council. Since the digital employee mailbox is based on a group works agreement, the case was referred back to the Regional Labor Court for further clarification.