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Leipzig (dpa) - The Federal Administrative Court has put a provisional end to a year-long dispute between Amazon and Verdi over Sunday work in Advent.
The court in Leipzig confirmed a previous judgment of the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster, which had overturned a permit for Sunday work.
(Ref .: BVerwG 8 C 3.20) The legal dispute concerned the logistics center in Rheinberg in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2015, Amazon had applied for Sunday work in Advent for several of its mail order warehouses - and justified this with the increased orders in the Christmas business.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia had approved the work on two Sundays in Rheinberg.
Verdi had sued against this.
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The union is fighting for the preservation of the work-free Sunday, which is particularly protected by the Basic Law.
“It cannot be that the mail order company makes delivery promises to its customers that it can only keep if it forces the employees to work on Sundays.
Amazon is not the fire brigade or the hospital that you cannot do without on Sundays, ”Orhan Akman, federal specialist group leader for retail, explained.
According to the Working Hours Act, Sunday work can exceptionally be approved if “special circumstances to prevent disproportionate damage” require this.
«Special conditions are temporary special situations that have an external cause.
So they must not be created by the employer himself », decided the Federal Administrative Court.
The latter was the case with Amazon.
The OVG in Münster had found that the mail order company had stimulated the orders with short-term delivery promises ("Same Day Delivery") itself.
This would not have had "special external conditions" affecting the company.
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Amazon announced that it wanted to carefully examine the decision of the federal administrative judges.
The ruling has no impact on the current business process.
During the oral hearing, however, the Amazon lawyer said that the company still sees a need for applications for Sunday work: "We have not submitted any applications in recent years because we wanted to wait for the outcome of the proceedings."
In fact, after the Leipzig decision, it remains to be seen whether the Christmas business itself, with increased incoming orders, could be a special situation that would justify permission to work on Sundays.
That was not to be decided in the specific case, said the court.
Verdi was satisfied with the verdict.
«Amazon has received another well-deserved gossip in German courts.
The group should finally take note that the Basic Law also applies to US companies, ”said Akhman.
The union, together with its church allies, will defend the Sunday off against further attacks.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210127-99-195986 / 2
Judgment of the OVG Münster
Communication from the Federal Administrative Court