GERMAN LAW FROM STRICK

[BIZ: Cleves, October 25]
As usual Strick’s newsletters on German law are both witty and informative. In September and October they start with the observation that an employee cannot be fired for falling asleep in the lavatory, and greet the election on Angela Merkel with the immortal phrase “habemus mamam”. They cover the retirement of the MD of a GmbH, setting up a company in Germany, registering a trademark, minimum wages in the German construction industry, competition clauses in contracts of employment, swearing in German and in German law, the applicable law when the Dutch build with German contractors and salary records and their payment and much else besides.

In the case of the retirement of the MD of a GmbH, this can only take effect when the information is conveyed to the body that made the appointment, i.e. to a share holders’ meeting or to the supervisory board. If you want to set up a GmbH in Germany, you can only do this in your quality as a natural person.

When it comes to swearing, it is all the matter of status, German swearwords are said to be largely anal, and we shall not explore that any further, but merely note that if you are on familiar terms with someone in German, indicated by the fact that you address them in the second person singular of the verb i.e. using the pronoun ‘du’ in stead of ‘Sie’, then you can apparently swear at them with impunity. If your relations are more formal, such behavior could lose you your job.
Read Strick at the link for the hard-core information.
http://www.strick.de