Transitional Pension Scheme at Deutsche Lufthansa AG

The German Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) has issued several rulings regarding the calculation of service periods for the transitional pension scheme applicable to flight attendants at Deutsche Lufthansa AG (e.g., judgments dated 15 September 2009, 3 AZR 37/08; and 28 October 2008, 3 AZR 189/07).

To be entitled to the full amount of the collectively agreed transitional pension, a minimum of 276 months of employment as a flight attendant must be completed. For each missing month, 1/276 of the benefit is deducted.

In this context, the Third Senate of the BAG ruled that, under Section 2(3) in conjunction with Protocol Note II(2) of the 2003 Transitional Pension Agreement (TV-ÜV 2003), all periods of employment as a flight attendant—including fixed-term contracts (so-called FAZ periods), prior employment relationships with Lufthansa, and training periods—must be counted as qualifying employment time under the transitional pension agreement for cabin crew (TV-ÜV Kabine 2003).

However, employment periods at other group companies, such as Condor Flugdienst GmbH, do not count as qualifying employment time for this purpose. These periods are not to be aggregated.