Employers have managerial rights.
This also includes employee transfers.
Employers can also unilaterally order transfers abroad.
According to a new fundamental judgment of the Federal Labor Court of November 30, 2022 (PM 45/22), the right of direction for transfers to other places of work according to Section 106 GewO is not limited to the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The exercise of the right to issue instructions is subject to a fairness review in individual cases, so that not every transfer to a distant or foreign place of work is permissible.
There were also special circumstances in the case decided on when a pilot was posted abroad.
Conversely, a transfer abroad after the decision is not inadmissible in every case, as previously widely assumed.
In practice, this judgment means that when drafting the employment contract, these statutory employer rights can also be contractually expanded or restricted, or at least specified for local transfers.