Contract review or negotiation
Executive employment contracts and managing director service agreements often contain detailed provisions on responsibilities, remuneration, bonuses, company cars, non-compete obligations, liability and termination.
Executives and Managing Directors
German employment law for executives and managing directors
Senior positions require legal advice that understands responsibility, business decisions, remuneration and professional reputation as one connected situation.
Starting point
Senior positions require an individual legal strategy
Executives and managing directors often face substantial financial interests, personal responsibility and long-term professional consequences at the same time.
General employment-law principles are not always sufficient. The legal analysis must reflect the actual role, decision-making authority, contractual structure and, where applicable, the separate corporate appointment.
Effective advice therefore combines legal analysis, commercial objectives, negotiation strategy and the protection of future professional opportunities. The firm's advice is shaped by practical corporate and entrepreneurial experience rather than by a purely theoretical view of management responsibility.
Typical situations
When executives and managing directors need advice
Early clarification of the contractual position, applicable deadlines and strategic objectives usually preserves the greatest scope for action.
Responsibilities or reporting lines change
A loss of authority, reassignment of responsibilities, new reporting lines or restrictions on decision-making powers may affect both legal rights and professional standing.
Dismissal or separation is announced
Contractual rights, dismissal protection, remuneration, garden leave, severance, references and professional reputation should be assessed as one connected situation.
Removal from office as managing director
Removal from corporate office does not automatically terminate the managing director service agreement. Corporate office and contractual relationship must be examined separately.
Bonus or variable remuneration is disputed
Target agreements, discretionary decisions, changed performance criteria and incomplete calculations frequently lead to disputes about variable remuneration.
Liability or compliance allegations
Executives and managing directors may face internal investigations, claims for damages or allegations concerning supervision, organisation and compliance responsibilities.
Legal position
Executive, senior executive or managing director?
The correct legal classification depends on actual duties, authority, contractual arrangements and corporate status rather than title alone.
Executives
Executives are usually employees and generally benefit from German employment law protections. Their actual responsibilities, powers of representation and position within the organisation remain important.
Senior executives
Whether a person qualifies as a senior executive under German law does not depend solely on title or salary. Actual hiring, dismissal, representation and decision-making powers are decisive.
Managing directors
Managing directors hold a corporate office and are also bound by a service agreement. The corporate appointment and the contractual relationship are legally distinct.
Removal from office and termination are not the same
Removing a managing director from corporate office generally affects only the appointment. Whether and when the managing director service agreement also ends depends on the agreement, a separate termination measure and the circumstances of the individual case.
Structured approach
From legal classification to an integrated solution
A structured review prevents contracts, corporate office, remuneration and professional interests from being considered in isolation.
01
Determine the legal position
The first step is to identify whether the relationship is governed by an employment contract, a service agreement, a corporate appointment or a combination of these.
02
Review contracts and corporate documents
Employment or service agreements, appointment resolutions, amendments, bonus rules, internal policies and relevant correspondence are reviewed together.
03
Define commercial and professional objectives
Continued employment, an orderly exit, severance, garden leave, references, reputation and future employment opportunities require different strategies.
04
Implement an integrated strategy
Contractual, corporate, financial and procedural issues are combined into a coordinated negotiation, litigation or settlement strategy.
Areas of advice
German employment law for senior positions
Advice covers contractual arrangements, changes of position, remuneration, liability and the legal and commercial structuring of a separation.
Executive employment contracts
Review and negotiation of responsibilities, remuneration, bonuses, targets, place of work, mobility clauses, company cars and restrictive covenants.
Managing director service agreements
Advice on appointment, contractual term, termination, remuneration, bonuses, liability, D&O insurance and post-contractual obligations.
Changes to position and authority
Assessment of demotion, reassignment, removal of responsibilities, garden leave, changed reporting structures and restrictions on authority.
Removal and termination
Coordination of corporate removal, contractual termination, settlement agreements, severance and the timing of each legal step.
Variable remuneration
Advice on target agreements, bonuses, commissions, management discretion and disputed calculation methods.
Liability and professional reputation
Strategic advice on allegations of misconduct, internal investigations, liability exposure, communication and professional standing.
Related advice
Consider employment and corporate issues together
Executive and managing director matters frequently overlap with dismissal protection, employment contracts, employer strategy and cross-border employment.
Next step
Do not make far-reaching decisions on an unclear legal basis
Have the contractual position, corporate office, financial consequences and available deadlines reviewed before accepting a termination, settlement agreement or material change of responsibilities.