employers are not allowed to make a survivor’s pension conditional on the fact that a marriage had existed for at least ten years. Such a long wait at a disadvantage the affected workers to be inappropriate and therefore ineffective, decided by the Federal labour court (BAG) in Erfurt, Germany (Az: 3 AZR 150/18).
In the event of a dispute, the employees in 2011, had married, he died in 2015. The supply order provided for a survivor’s pension only after ten years of marriage. In her complaint, the widow argued, inter alia, the “duration of marriage” clause in the pension agreement of the deceased notified you piece inadmissible. The Federal labour court gave her right and to her the survivor’s pension.
If an employer to a survivor’s pension commitment, the law assumes that the spouse is protected. With the exception of the chosen by the employer for ten years were too strong. It was an “arbitrarily chosen period of time, without any inner connection to the employment relationship”, said the Erfurt judge. Permitted only “reasonable” restrictions to avoid abuse. What is the waiting time would be appropriate, had not the court will decide.