Germany: Federal Labor Court adjusts the payment of corporate supplementary pension to new statutory retirement age

Synchronizing company and statutory retirement.  “As a rule, the judges want sync between statutory and company pensions” Inken Gallner, spokeswoman for the Federal Labor Court, said about the ruling rendered on the issue on May 15 (Case No.  3 AZR 11/10).  In this benchmark decision, the federal judges shed light on a problem which was not apprehended at first, when implementing, on January 1, 2008, the law increasing retirement age (see our dispatch No.  070221).  The latter provides that, starting in 2012, statutory retirement age will gradually increase, reaching 67 in 2029.  however, since the procedure only started this year, issues are now beginning to arise.  Indeed, a great deal of businesses offering supplementary pension schemes have not updated their contracts, most of which explicitly refer to statutory retirement age, mentioning the age of 65.