As of January 31, 2023, transposition into national law (draft bill of April 20, 2022) is to make it easier for domestic companies to merge with foreign (European) companies, including transfer of the registered office abroad. In return, company pensioners can then be deprived of the protection of the German #Pensionssicherungs #Vereins aG (PSVAG) in […]
Artikel zum Thema: Company pensions
In the future, not even the contributions of the direct insurance are guaranteed at the beginning of the pension.
– When the employer alone is liable for the equal value of deferred compensation? – 2022 the value equality of the direct insurance (DV) ends In the future, it will be highly questionable whether the sum of the contributions paid in or converted will be “equal in value” at the end of the savings […]
More favourable occupational pensions without the Occupational Pensions Act (BetrAVG)
– How employers can free themselves from the constraining corset of the BetrAVG – Employers who want to set up company pensions look at the Company Pensions Act (Betriebsrentengesetz), or more precisely the Occupational Pensions Act (Betriebliches Altersversorgungsgesetz – BetrAVG). However, structuring a company pension in accordance with the BetrAVG usually suits neither the employer’s […]
No obligation to provide information on taxes and social security contributions on occupational pensions
The Federal Labour Court (BAG, ruling of 18.02.2020, Ref. 3 AZR 206/18) decided that an employer did not owe compensation for damages simply because he had not correctly informed about social insurance contribution obligations at an information event, and simply because he did not even address the topic of social insurance. Then he did […]
Employers are often liable to employees for company pension schemes
– What information, education and advisory duties are imposed on employers? – The Regional Labour Court (Landesarbeitsgericht – LAG Hamm, judgement of 06.12.2017, file no. 4 Sa 852/17) decided that the employer (AG) is liable for damages if the advice on deferred compensation in company pension schemes (bAV) was incorrect. This was the case even […]
How an ex-business wise man got it wrong about bond yields
In a daily newspaper of 8 October 2018, an ex-professor for financial and economic policy recommends increasing the “spread of funded occupational pensions” (2nd pillar) and “pressing for the offer of a low-cost standard private pension product” (3rd pillar). The main argument for this was a comparison of the “total collective” of those insured with […]
How half-baked company pension commitments can be interpreted by the courts
The Federal Labor Court (BAG, ruling dated February 21, 2017, file no. 3 AZR 297/15) dismissed an employee’s action seeking to establish that his current wife is entitled to a widow’s pension from his company pension commitment. The employee had remarried at the end of the employment relationship. The future widow goes away empty-handed – […]
Liability for missing documentation, even in case of correct advice: Part 1
A recent ruling of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne of 26.02.2016 (Case No. 20 U 102/15) underlines the “obligation of the broker to inform the policyholder that the intended change to private health insurance (PKV) may affect the insurance cover of his or her spouse and the financial burdens associated with it”. The spouse […]
Employers are still liable for their commitments to employees
When pension funds cut their own benefits For years, there have been more and more reports about the reduction of benefits in pension funds, life insurance companies and pension funds. Responsible actuaries, actuaries, are increasingly worried there. And rightly so, because employers could take recourse against these experts in matters of occupational pension calculation. After […]
BGH – When a life insurance policy must distinguish between two widows
The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH, ruling of 22 July 2015, file no. IV ZR 437/14) decided that the declaration of the insurance customer “the widowed spouse” as the beneficiary is to be interpreted in such a way that “the spouse married to the policyholder at the time of the declaration of the subscription right […]