Employment at will versus employment against will - Kündigungsschutz in Deutschland und USA im Vergleich

Abstract

"A variety of critics have blamed Germany's individual and collective employment protection legislation for contributing to the country's persistently high jobless figures. They have urged that the laws should be changed to help put more people into work. Germany differs greatly from the United States where laws that protect workers' interests are sparse and fragile. During the past 20 years, however, changes to the common law doctrine of employment-at-will have reduced employers' powers to dismiss workers, and improved sacked workers' prospects of taking former employers to court. This analysis compares the system of employment protection covering employees in Germany and the USA. Moreover, an the basis of current data, the costs of employment protection legislation for the opposing parties - workers and employers - are analysed. We uncovered very little to support those claims that the gap between levels of employment protection in the two countries has become less marked." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Jahn, E. (2004): Employment at will versus employment against will - Kündigungsschutz in Deutschland und USA im Vergleich. In: Industrielle Beziehungen, Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 177-202.