Christopher WienckeInhalt und Grenzen des Direktionsrechts bei Arbeitsverträgen mit Berufssportlern

About this book deutschenglish

Nowadays sport is a major sector of working life. However, employment contracts with professional sportsmen and sportswomen differ from traditional employment contracts. Although these professionals are more independent within their job performance, they require special care by their employer due to the extreme physical and psychological stress. As the professionals’ health and fitness have a prominent importance, their employers have an increased interest to control and influence the professionals outside their core activity, e.g. by special nutritional or training plans or by prohibiting dangerous sports in the leisure time.

Based on the fundament of the general employment law, the author examines and analyzes the content and limitations of the employers’ instruction right in professional sport on the basis of various conceivable directives. The analyzes is based on the main thesis, that due to the so-called specificity of sport the employers’ instruction right in professional sport is wider than in general employment law. This comprehensive instruction right of the employer interacts with a special duty of care. This duty of care of the employer is not only wider than in general employment law, it also sets limitations to the instruction right. Furthermore it establishes independent duties requiring action. To evaluate these aspects not only theoretical but against the background of the sporting practice, the author conducted a survey in 2012 among the clubs of the 1St and 2nd German soccer league and the clubs of the 1st German tennis league. The results of this survey reinforce the legal solutions found within the analysis and verify their practicability.