Case number and/or case name
BAG, 20.12.2012 – 2 AZR 481/11
Summary
The plaintiff has been employed by the defendant as a flight captain for several years. The defendant terminated the employment contract without notice. It was doubtful whether German courts had international jurisdiction concerning the claim for dismissal protection.
The court decided that the ‘place where the employee habitually carries out his work’ in Art. 19 (2) (a) Brussels I meant the place of a ‘crew base’ set up by the employer if the employee carried out the preparation and follow-up of the flights, if he received instructions there and if he performed and terminated the flights there.
In Mulox (C-125/92) the CJEU stated that the central place of working was the office and place where one organizes his work and where one returns to after having done his work [paragraph 25, 26 of the judgment]. In the present case the flight captain always returned to the base in order to organize and coordinate the flights. The judgment is correct.