ecsolutions Precaution Insurance Policies Employees and Benefits Company Pension Plan

The defused verification law facilitates intelligent solutions

After we already reported on the new version of the Evidence Act as of August 1, 2022 (HERE), the Evidence Act will be amended again with the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act (BEG IV) as of January 1, 2025.

What is it about?

The formal requirements will be significantly relaxed from January 1, 2025 in order to relieve employers of unnecessary bureaucracy. From then on, employers and employees will be able to conclude agreements on company social benefits conveniently on a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Especially when it comes to remuneration components. For example:

Agreements on employer-financed company pension schemes
Deferred compensation agreements for employee-financed company pension schemes
Agreements on the accumulation of time value accounts/value credits and vice versa Agreements on paid leave phases

What are the options?

Mitigation enables us to work with employers to design digitally supported processes intelligently and precisely.

Employees are not only informed in a digitally supported process. Once they have decided on an offer, they can respond and participate directly via their notebook, tablet or smartphone. They no longer need an appointment with the HR department to sign on site. This gives employees immediate access to the benefits and they can receive confirmation and a copy of the agreement straight away.

If an agreement is concluded digitally, the stored data can ideally be imported directly into payroll accounting for implementation. And the agreement is archived directly. Stacks of paper no longer need to be shuffled back and forth, which significantly reduces the bureaucratic burden.

What is the difference to the previous regulation?

Digital agreements are already possible and effective today. No special form is required by law. According to the case law of the Federal Labor Court, a lack of documentation in written form in accordance with the Evidence Act does not render the agreement invalid or void (BAG, judgment of March 24, 2021 - 10 AZR 16/20; BAG, judgment of May 20, 2008 - 9 AZR 382/07).

However, if no written proof is subsequently provided, sanctions may be imposed. It is also not certain whether, for example, tax offices and social security institutions will insist on the submission of proof in individual cases. The new regulation creates certainty.

Text form will generally be sufficient from January 1, 2025

As a result of the change from January 1, 2025, the text form is sufficient for the agreement itself and for its (subsequent) proof. Text form has significantly lower requirements than electronic form. It also does not require a simple, advanced or qualified electronic signature. Providers meet the requirements of text form (Section 126 b BGB) for paperless, digital signatures as standard. A simple e-mail without a signature is also sufficient.

Technical requirements

Effectiveness requirements apply to electronic transmission in text form. The "digital" process must therefore meet certain technical requirements:

The document must be accessible to the employee without restriction, be able to be saved and printed and
the employer must request the employee to provide proof of receipt with the transmission.
The transmission must be made individually to the employee; a general announcement (e.g. of a pension scheme) is not sufficient. However, a reference to company agreements is possible.

But there are exceptions

One exception always applies: If the employee requests written proof, this must be provided by the employer. But only on request.

This relaxation does not apply to certain sectors. The written form is still required. The text form is not sufficient for employment relationships in the sectors listed in the Act to Combat Clandestine Employment ("blacklist"):

Construction industry, catering and accommodation industry (note: this can also include service companies), passenger transportation industry, freight forwarding, transport and related logistics industry, showman industry, forestry companies, building cleaning industry (note: this can also include service companies), companies involved in setting up and dismantling trade fairs and exhibitions, meat industry, prostitution industry, guard and security industry