1.Scope, official approval

The following terms and conditions (GTC) apply to the contractual relationship between Option Eins GmbH (hereinafter referred to as Option Eins) and the borrower (hereinafter referred to as the customer) regarding the provision of temporary workers on the basis of the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG). The inclusion of the customer’s GTC is hereby expressly rejected. Option Eins has a temporary permit for the commercial provision of temporary workers, first granted on November 26, 2019 by the Federal Employment Agency – Kiel, until November 25, 2023. The collective agreements concluded between the employers’ association Interest Group of German Temporary Employment Agencies (IGZ e.V.) and the member unions of the DGB, each in its current version, apply.

2. Legal status of temporary workers
3. a) The conclusion of the temporary employment contract does not establish a contractual relationship between Option Eins personnel and the customer. Changes to working hours, work activities and duration of assignment can only be agreed between Option Eins and the customer. During the assignment at the customer’s premises, the temporary worker is subject to the customer’s work instructions and works under their supervision and guidance. Temporary workers are obliged to maintain confidentiality. This applies in particular to all business matters that become known during the performance of their duties and are by their nature confidential and require confidentiality.
4. b) The temporary employment contract can be terminated with one week’s notice to the weekend. 
5. c) Terminations must always be in writing

3. 3. Obligations of the Customer
   4. a) The customer is obliged to observe the statutory regulations on occupational safety (especially occupational safety and working hours) applicable to their company when using temporary workers. The customer undertakes to familiarize the employees with the respective accident prevention regulations of the corresponding workplace before starting work and to provide the necessary safety equipment.
   5. b) In the event of a work accident involving a temporary worker, the customer must inform Option One immediately so that the accident can be reported. Furthermore, the customer must report industrial accidents to their own employers’ liability insurance association immediately.
   6. c) In order to fulfill its employer’s duties, Option One is granted access to the employees’ workplaces during working hours in coordination with the client.
   7. d) The customer expressly undertakes to use Option One’s employees only within the scope of the agreed activity and to allow them to use or operate corresponding work equipment or machines. The customer must inform Option One immediately by telephone or in writing, expressly pointing out the change.
   8. e) The customer undertakes not to pay any cash amounts, especially wages and/or travel expense advances, to Option One’s employees. The customer further undertakes not to use Option One’s personnel for the transportation of money or cash collection. The customer expressly releases Option One from all claims in this respect.
   9. f) The customer undertakes to inform Option One immediately about any labor disputes taking place in the client’s company.
   10. g) Within the framework of its statutory duty of care, the customer will take appropriate preventive measures to protect the employee from discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or sexual identity with regard to his or her employment.
   11. h) The customer undertakes to check in good time before the temporary worker begins his or her assignment whether he or she has been employed as an employee at the customer’s premises in the last three months – possibly also by another personnel service provider – and to inform Option One immediately – at least in text form – if it finds that such prior assignments have been completed.
   12. i) The customer undertakes to provide Option One with all the information and information necessary to determine the relevant maximum assignment duration and its interruption, as well as the duration of assignment relevant for a mandatory equal pay claim. The customer undertakes to provide Option One with the necessary documents and to provide copies, as well as to confirm the correctness of the information in writing.
   13. j) The transfer of the employees to third parties is excluded.
       4. Obligations of Option One GmbH
       5. a) Option One undertakes to provide proof of qualifications for the named employee upon request.
       6. b) The employees provided to the customer are selected according to the job profile and the activity described by the customer.
       7. c) Should it turn out in an exceptional case that a transferred employee is not suitable for the intended work, the customer can demand within the first four hours after starting work that the unsuitable employee be replaced by a suitable one without charging for this work time.
       8. d) Option One’s obligation to perform is limited to the named employee. If this employee is prevented from performing his work through no fault of Option One (e.g. due to illness or accident), Option One shall be released from its obligation to perform for the duration of the hindrance.
       9. e) Should the customer be affected by a labor dispute, Option One is not obliged to transfer employees with regard to § 11 para. 5 sentence 1 of the Temporary Employment Act; rather, the transfer of employees is generally excluded, unless Option One demonstrates that the requirements of the exception provision in § 11 para. 5 sentence 2 of the Temporary Employment Act are met. The same applies in case of impossibility and in cases of force majeure.
       10. f) Option One obliges its employees to comply with the company regulations applicable at the customer’s premises, as well as to maintain confidentiality as towards an employer.
       11. g) The customer can dismiss the temporary worker from the assigned workplace during an assignment and demand suitable replacement if there is a reason that would entitle the employer to extraordinary termination under § 626 (1) of the German Civil Code.
       12. h) Option One declares that the iGZ.DGB collective agreement including the sector-specific collective bargaining agreements in their respective valid version are fully incorporated into the employment contracts it has concluded with the employees deployed at the customer’s premises. Option One is a member of the Interessenverband Deutscher Zeitarbeitsunternehmen e.V.
   14. 5. Invoicing
       6. a) The invoices are issued weekly based on the confirmed timesheets and are due immediately after invoicing, net. The hourly rate agreed in the temporary employment contract, plus the applicable VAT, is decisive for the calculation. It contains all wage and ancillary labor costs for the transferred employee.
       7. b) The hourly rates are valid, unless expressly agreed otherwise, without surcharges for overtime, night work, shift work, Sundays and public holidays, as well as other surcharges.

Option One also reserves the right to correspondingly increase the hourly rates if there are wage increases due to collective bargaining agreements after the conclusion of the contract, if employees are exchanged for others with higher qualifications, or if circumstances for which Option One is not responsible cause an increase in costs.

3. 3. 1. c) Night and weekend surcharges are calculated with the following surcharges:

Overtime (after 40 hours per week) 25 percent

Overtime (after 45 hours per week) 50 percent

Night work (10:00 pm – 6:00 am) 25 percent

Night work, as well as overtime (10:00 pm – 6:00 am) 50 percent

Work hours on Sundays 100 percent

Work hours on Saturdays 25 percent

Work hours on public holidays 100 percent

If multiple surcharges apply, only the highest one is calculated. The customer undertakes to have the hours worked verified weekly by an authorized representative and to have them confirmed by signature and company stamp on the timesheet. A copy remains with the customer for control purposes.

3. 3. 6. Employee Takeover / Placement / Commission
      7. a) A placement occurs if the customer or a company legally or economically affiliated with it enters into an employment relationship with the employee of Option One GmbH during the term of the temporary employment contract.
      8. b) A placement also occurs if the customer or a company legally or economically affiliated with it enters into an employment relationship with the temporary worker within 6 months after the termination of the transfer, but no more than 12 months after the start of the transfer. In this case, the customer is allowed to provide evidence that the conclusion of the employment relationship did not occur due to the previous transfer.
      9. c) A placement also occurs if the customer or a company legally or economically affiliated with it enters into an employment relationship directly after the establishment of contact with the applicant by Option One without a prior transfer. The decisive factor for the time of the establishment of the employment relationship between the customer and the temporary worker is not the time of taking up employment, but the time of the conclusion of the employment contract.
      10. d) The customer is obliged to inform Option One whether and when an employment contract was concluded. If in a dispute Option One presents indications of the existence of an employment relationship between the customer and the temporary worker, the customer bears the burden of proof that an employment relationship was not entered into.
      11. e) If Option One presents an applicant to the customer in accordance with the agreement for the purpose of concluding a transfer contract and the customer hires this person within 6 months of the presentation by Option One, Option One is also entitled to a placement fee. A placement fee is also payable if the contractual relationship with the temporary worker is established within 6 months after the termination of the transfer of the temporary worker to the customer.
      12. f) In the aforementioned cases, the customer has to pay a placement commission to Option One. Fixed-term employment relationships are subject to the same commission as indefinite employment relationships. The amount of the placement commission is

f.1) for a transfer of < 6 months: 30% of the annual gross income plus VAT.
f.2) for a transfer of < 9 months: 25% of the annual gross income plus VAT

f.3) for a transfer of < 12 months: 20% of the annual gross income plus VAT

The decisive factor here is the gross monthly salary paid by the hirer in the new employment relationship with the temporary worker. Deviating agreements are to be regulated in the temporary employment contract.

3. 3. 1. g) Direct personnel placement: For the purpose of direct placement, the customer assigns Option One a placement order. Upon conclusion of the employment contract which the customer concludes with the applicant placed by Option One, a placement fee of 25% of the gross annual salary that the applicant is to receive becomes due.
   4. 7. Suitability Requirements / Occupational Safety

The necessary occupational medical preventive examinations for the deployment must be carried out before the start of the transfer and proven to the client. If follow-up examinations become necessary, the client shall notify the personnel service provider in writing. Follow-up examinations are carried out by the company physician responsible for the client or, if such a physician is not available, by a company physician commissioned by the personnel service provider at the expense of the personnel service provider. A deviating cost allocation can be agreed. In order to fulfill its employer obligations, the personnel service provider is granted access to the employees’ workplaces during working hours in consultation with the client. The client undertakes to immediately report any work accident to the personnel service provider and to provide it with all the information required under §193 paragraph 1 of the German Social Security Code VII.

3. 3. 8. Liability
      9. a) Since the transferred employees are instructed and supervised by the customer, the liability of Option One for the actions, behavior and work performance of the employees is excluded.
      10. b) Option One is rather solely liable for the selection of the employees, exercising the usual care. The liability is limited to damages due to intentional or grossly negligent breach of the selection obligations. The amount of Option One’s liability is limited to five times the remuneration of the transferred employees for 40 hours per week.
      11. c) If third parties claim a claim on the occasion or in connection with the activities of a transferred employee, the customer is obliged to indemnify Option One and the employee against such claims, insofar as their liability is excluded according to the above provisions.
      12. d) Illegal poaching (§1 UWG, §826 BGB) obliges to pay compensation for damages.

e) If the employee is economically disadvantaged as a result of incorrect, incomplete and/or missing information (e.g. information on the comparative remuneration of the customer), Option One will correct this after receiving the correct, complete and/or previously missing information and settle any claims for additional payment by the employee and/or other eligible third parties, in particular social security providers and tax authorities. In doing so, Option One has the right to make a settlement for all claims concerning the employee and/or other eligible third parties, insofar as the claims in question have not yet become statutorily time-barred. The customer will reimburse Option One for the payments made on these claims to the employee or other eligible third parties in the amount of the gross salary (including the social security contributions to be paid thereon and any taxes).

3. 3. 3. f) The customer also undertakes to indemnify Option One against the obligations and claims that have arisen from the omitted, erroneous and/or incomplete information of the customer regarding the correct determination of the maximum transfer duration and its interruption or duration of use according to §8 para. 4 AÜG, as well as the proper determination of a mandatory Equal Pay (clause 3.h) in relation to third parties, in particular the employee. Any damages incurred by Option One as a result of the customer’s culpable breach of duty in this context (clause 3.h) must be reimbursed by the customer.
      4. g) The customer is not entitled to set off against claims of the company Option One or to assert a right of retention, unless the counterclaim asserted by the customer is undisputed or has been legally established. The customer is not entitled to assign claims of Option One to third parties.
   4. 9. Price Change Clause / Duty to Inform
      10. a) Change in the hourly rate: The remuneration corresponds to the status of the respective legal and collective bargaining wage and ancillary labor costs at the time of the conclusion of the contract. Collective bargaining, legal or other changes entitle Option One to demand the start of negotiations on a new price adjustment.
      11. b) The customer undertakes to immediately provide Option One with the information that Option One needs to properly fulfill its legal and/or collective bargaining obligations towards the employee; in particular, to inform it immediately of any changes to the comparative remuneration.
   5. 10. Complaints

The customer must immediately notify Option One of any complaints, in particular if the performance of an employee provided by Option One is insufficient according to the job profile. If the customer does not report defects within one week after the occurrence of the circumstances causing the complaint, all claims are excluded.

3. 3. 11. General

The invalidity of a part of these terms and conditions does not affect the validity of the remaining conditions. Only the current version of the General Terms and Conditions applies. Ancillary oral agreements require the written form to be effective. The place of jurisdiction is Hanover.

As of 01/01/2024