Thomas Hey

I am a partner in our International HR Services Practice Group, based in Düsseldorf and offering more than two decades of experience in advising clients from the banking and financial services, life sciences and healthcare, retail and consumer goods, as well as aerospace, defence and security sectors.

I am a specialist lawyer for employment law and specialise in individual and collective employment law, employment contract and social security law. In addition, I conduct negotiations with trade unions and works councils and act on transactions and restructurings.

My areas of specialism include the following: negotiation of collective bargaining agreements and advice on collective bargaining law; co-determination rights on the board level (eg supervisory board); advising on the formation of supervisory boards and on legal consequences, in particular due to the liability of supervisory boards and management boards; internal investigations; regulations for older workers; alternative staffing strategies; work at the age of digitisation (conditioned by the permanent need to restructure); workforce restructurings and post-transaction integration; international labour law.

The industry sectors where I have particular expertise and years of experience include aerospace, defence and security, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, and retail and consumer products. In addition to legal advice, my team and I are following the legal as well as the economic developments in the respective industrial sectors, especially with regard to employment law in the broadest sense. We also have advised on some headline employment law deals in the respective industry sectors.

In aerospace, defence and security my team and I have broad experience in advising international corporations, in particular with regard to the international deployment of executives, the need for change within the industry and the integration of external staff into internal processes.

For many years, in financial services, our client base has included some major banks and, more recently, companies in the insurance industry. We are aware of the specific issues that arise due to the fact that these industries are highly regulated. We have a particularly good record in advising on issues at the interface between labour and corporate law, on co-determination rights on the company level, on the subject of service contracts for managing directors, and especially on executive board contracts. We have acted on the introduction of IVV 3.0 and are following closely the other IVV-implementation- and Solvency II-related topics and their impact on compensation in the companies involved.

In life sciences and healthcare, I have been active in this industry as an employment lawyer for nearly 25 years, particularly advising on compliance-related labour law issues. I also have broad experience advising on restructuring and the permanent changes in this industry sector.

Together with my colleagues and partners, I have also been closely involved in the separation and integration of business areas, especially across countries and jurisdictions.

In the retail and consumer sector, I have more than 20 years' experience of advising on the main labour law issues of the industry. These include digitisation, collective bargaining, tariff opt-outs and alternative structures, negotiation of these topics, associated litigation, advising on restructurings, corporate transactions and post-deal integration, external staff and so on.

Due to my many years' experience as a partner in international law firms, as well as the associated management responsibilities, I have a profound knowledge in the identification and solution of problems that can arise in dealing with staff. In doing so, I always lay great emphasis on coaching (future) managers and passing on to them my knowledge and experience in dealing with conflicts.

Outside my practice, I regularly publish on current topics and issues of labour law, such as supervisory board tariff law and the Anti-Discrimination Act (AGG). I also act as a negotiation trainer and supervise mediations and proceedings before arbitration boards.

I am a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für betriebliche Altersvorsorge (German Association for Occupational Pensions), the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft (BVMW, German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses), the European Employment Lawyers Association (EELA) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Personalführung e.V. (DGFP, German Association for Human Resource Management).

• Twenty years of experience at a magic circle law firm, most recently as Head of Employment Practice in Germany.
• Advising Metro AG (Real GmbH) on collective bargaining or change in the collective bargaining partner from Verdi to DHV (trade union and employers' association for approx. 34,000 employees).
• Advising on the settlement of WestLB.
• Advising a large German bank regarding the implementation of a complete restructuring due to digitisation. Negotiations regarding the coordination of interests and social compensation plans in the context of a multi-annual project. Special advisory focus: programme for the parting of older employees.
• Advising the management board in the context of the IPO of a specialised media group.
• Advising an international blood plasma company on the first-time development and conclusion of inhouse and company collective bargaining agreements with IG BCE and regarding the negotiation of these contracts.
• Negotiation of collective bargaining agreements for a large German publishing house.
• Advising on the closure of an international company from the metal industry.
• Advising on the restructuring in an international pharma company.
• Advising on the employment law aspects of the tariff exit.
• Advising on the establishment of co-determined board members in several cases.
• Advising various global pharmaceutical companies on the hiring of external staff.
• Establishment of a joint works council between the public sector and a private international company.