Payment of the energy price allowance by the employer

Employees cannot sue their employer for payment of the energy price lump sum, but must instead submit an income tax return to the tax office in order to receive the lump sum.

An employee's action against the employer for payment of the energy price lump sum lacks legal protection because the employer is not the debtor of the energy price lump sum. With this reasoning, the Hamburg Fiscal Court dismissed the claim of an employee whose employer had not paid out the energy price allowance shortly before the employer's insolvency. Instead, the court referred the plaintiff to the tax office: As long as the energy price lump sum has not yet been paid out by the employer, the employee, as the creditor of the energy price lump sum, must in principle claim the assessment of the lump sum from the tax office by submitting an income tax return.