Current decision of the BAG: Salary statement as an electronic document for accessing the digital employee mailbox is sufficient.
On January 28, 2025 (Az. 9 AZR 48-24), the Federal Labor Court announced a decision on the digital salary statement interesting for employers.
The employer must issue a settlement in text form to the employee in accordance with Section 108 (1) sentence 1 of the trade regulations (GewO) when paying the wages. In principle, he can also fulfill this obligation by setting the billing as an electronic document for accessing a password -protected digital mailbox.
The plaintiff is employed as a seller in the defendant's retail business. For the group network, to which the defendant belongs, the Group's company agreement on the introduction and application of a digital employee post from 07.04.2021 regulates that all personnel documents, in particular remuneration, is provided by an external provider in a digital employee inbox and can be accessed by the employees via a password-protected online access. If there is no way for employees to access the documents stored in the digital employee in the digital employee, the employer must enable the employer to view and print out the documents in the company. On the basis of the Group's Company agreement, the defendant only provided payroll accounts available electronically from March 2022. The applicant contradicted this and asked her to continue to send bills in paper form.
The Lower Saxony State Labor Court has granted the lawsuit with which the plaintiff desires the granting of the fee incoming bills. It has assumed that the remuneration is not properly granted by posting the online portal. In the case of remuneration, it is an explanations in need of access. A digital employee mailbox is only suitable as a reception device if the recipient- contrary to the plaintiff in the event of a dispute, intended it for the reception of explanation in legal and business transactions.
The defendant's revision was successful before the ninth Senate of the Federal Labor Court. It leads to the referral of the matter to the state labor court.
If the employer gives removal calculations by inserting them into a digital employee inbox, he basically maintains the text form required by Section 108 (1) sentence 1 GewO. The claim of an employee to bill his remuneration is a so -called wicker guilt that the employer can meet without being responsible for receiving the statement at the employee. It is sufficient to provide the billing at an electronic output point. Here he has the legitimate interests of the employees who do not have the possibility of online access privately.
The digital provision of the pay recording, which was regulated in the group operating agreement within the framework of Section 87 (1) No. 6 BetrVG, does not interfere disproportionately into the rights of the employees concerned.
However, according to this legal view of the BAG, the employer must ensure that employees who have no way to access the documents stored in the digital employee in the digital employee can view and print the documents.
If you have any questions, you will be happy to answer the lawyer/specialist lawyer for labor law Golo Busch, Dortmund location.
