General Business Terms and Conditions for Recruitment Services
Recruitment of candidates for full-time employment
1. Scope
1.1 These General Terms and Conditions for Recruitment Services ("Terms") apply to contingency recruitment of qualified candidates for a specific position open at the time of engagement by a recruitment agency / recruitment consultant ("Recruiter") for Viridium Group GmbH & Co. KG or any of its affiliated companies as defined by Section 15 et seqq. German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) ("Affiliated Company") (the respective contracting company is hereinafter referred to as "Client") (the Recruiter and the Client are individually referred to as "Party" and collectively as "Parties").
The Client may include any of the following companies:
- Viridium Customer Services GmbH
- Viridium Group GmbH & Co. KG
- Viridium Group Services GmbH
- Viridium Service Management GmbH
- Viridium Technology Services GmbH
The name of the Client will be specified in the course of the engagement.
1.2 The Terms only apply to the recruitment of candidates for full-time employment. Recruitment and / or provision of temporary staff or of independent contractors or freelancers is not the subject of these Terms.
1.3 The provisions of these General Terms and Conditions apply exclusively to the recruitment of candidates according to Sections 1.1 and 1.2 and the resulting rights and duties of the Parties. No other provisions, in particular the general terms and conditions of the Recruiter, shall apply, independent of whether the Client has expressly rejected these general terms and conditions or not. These Terms also apply exclusively if the Client provides or accepts services without reservation in awareness of other general terms and conditions.
Unless otherwise agreed, the Terms shall apply in the version definitive at the time the Recruiter was engaged, in any case, however, in the most recent text wording communicated to the Recruiter. The Terms also apply to similar legal transactions between the Client and the Recruiter in the future.
2. Engagement, Conclusion of Contract
2.1 Engagement by the Client is carried out in writing (normally by e-mail) in a format put forth by the Client.
2.2 Unless otherwise accepted by the Recruiter, a recruitment agreement ("engagement") is concluded by the Parties on the basis of these Terms at the latest when a candidate is presented. Upon presentation of a candidate, the Terms are deemed unconditionally accepted. This applies regardless of the manner of presentation.
2.3 Within the scope of the particular engagement, individual contractual conditions in deviation from these Terms may be agreed upon. Subject to proof to the contrary, the content of such agreements shall be governed by a written contract or a written confirmation by the Client.
2.4 Specific engagements do not constitute an employment relationship between the Parties.
3. Services of the Recruiter
3.1 The recruitment services to be rendered by the Recruiter ("Services") and their scope, along with the respective candidate requirements, are listed by the Client in the relevant engagement and shall become an integral part of the respective agreement. The services are carried out according to the contractual agreement.
3.2 To the extent that no additional services have been engaged, the Recruiter is to render the following services in connection with his engagement:
- Orderly presentation of candidates according to Section 4 based on the requirement profile of each position to be filled
- Provision of all information required to make a qualification and hiring decision
- Support in the coordination of interviews
- Review of application documents in terms of plausibility and completeness
- Review and notification of applications by the same individual in the past
- upon request, provision of all information necessary for an employment relationship (full-time employment) to be established
3.3 Unless otherwise instructed, the Recruiter shall communicate exclusively with the contact person from the Client's human resources department.
3.4 The Recruiter shall contact executives and employees of the specialist departments exclusively with the consent of the contact person from the Client's human resources department who is responsible for filling the respective position.
3.5 The Recruiter does not participate in interviews, assessment centres or other diagnostic procedures.
3.6 The Recruiter undertakes to formulate the reasons for rejection in a non-discriminatory manner.
3.7 The Recruiter shall comply with all legal regulations, as well as official and other public requirements in connection with rendering the services.
3.8 The Terms do not grant the Recruiter an exclusive right of recruitment for the respective position to be filled. The Client, at its discretion, may engage other recruitment agencies and may also take action on its own to fill the position.
4. Proper presentation of candidates
4.1 The Recruiter shall present candidates exclusively using the communication channels specified by the Client as part of the engagement.
4.2 The Recruiter shall provide the following candidate information as part of candidate presentation:
- Original curriculum vitae of the candidate
- E-mail address, phone number, home address and date of birth
- Specific target salary incl. desired basic salary
- Notice period
- Information on the willingness to make a career change
- Certificates and employer references upon request
The candidate's CV is not allowed to include:
- The company or logo of the Recruiter in machine-readable form
- Name, address, and contact details of the Recruiter
The Recruiter does not provide candidate reports, diagnostic / psychometric reports, or other assessments of candidates.
4.3 The Client reserves the right to reject candidate presentations that do not comply with the requirements specified in Sections 4.1 and 4.2. In this case, the candidate is deemed not presented until he is presented in accordance with Section 4.1 by means of the specified communication channels and/or the information stated in Section 4.2 is subsequently submitted in the form described.
4.4 The Recruiter undertakes to present candidates only if they have expressly consented to disclosure of their personal details and other data.
4.5 The Recruiter shall provide documentation of the candidates' consent to the Client upon request. If a candidate's consent cannot be documented, the candidate is deemed not presented by the Recruiter.
4.6 The Client shall provide the Recruiter with all the information necessary for presentation of qualified candidates. This includes in particular:
- the job and requirement profile for the respective position to be filled
- information on remuneration and other employer benefits
4.7 The Recruiter shall present candidates exclusively for specific, open positions. Candidate presentations unrelated to any specific position open at the time of presentation will be rejected.
4.8 If an employment relationship (full-time employment) is established between a candidate presented contrary to Section 4.7 and the Client or one of its affiliated companies, the Recruiter shall not be entitled to recruitment commission pursuant to Section 5.
5. Recruitment Commission
5.1 The Recruiter conducts the recruitment of candidates exclusively on a contingency basis.
5.2 The Recruiter is entitled to a recruitment commission if:
- the Recruiter has been expressly engaged to present candidates for a specific position,
- the candidate has agreed to being presented by the Recruiter
- and an employment relationship (full-time employment) is established between the Client or one of its affiliated companies and the candidate presented by the Recruiter, independent of the position for which the candidate was originally presented. A full-time employment relationship is established with the signing of the respective employment contract.
5.3 The Recruiter is not entitled to a recruitment commission if:
- the Client or one of its affiliated companies already had the candidate's details prior to the candidate's being presented by the Recruiter and the candidate's data was collected or transmitted for the purpose of a job application or consideration for future positions, irrespective of the position pursued,
- or the presentation of the candidate was rejected in accordance with Section 4.3 because the presentation did not comply with the requirements of Section 4.1 (Communication channel) and / or Section 4.2 (required information) and the data of the candidate is otherwise collected by or transmitted to the Client or its affiliated companies for the purpose of applying for any position or consideration for future positions before the Recruiter has presented the candidate in accordance with Section 4.1 and /or transmitted or supplemented the required information in accordance with Section 4.2.
5.4 The Recruiter is also entitled to a recruitment commission (candidate protection) if:
- the presentation of a candidate in the context of a specific search engagement is initially unsuccessful,
- and an employment relationship (full-time employment) is established at a later time between the Client or one of its affiliated companies and the candidate presented by the Recruiter, independent of the position for which the candidate was originally presented,
- and no more than 18 months have elapsed between the time of the candidate's original presentation and the establishment of the employment relationship.
The criterion for calculating the 18-month period as defined by Section 5.4 is the date on which the application documents are first received by the Client or one of its affiliated companies. The other prerequisites for the formation of an entitlement to commission shall remain unaffected.
5.5 Unless otherwise agreed, the Recruiter is entitled to a recruitment commission of 20% of the commission-relevant remuneration of the candidate on the basis of a successful recruitment of a candidate.
The commission-relevant remuneration of the candidate as defined by these General Terms and Conditions comprises the following:
- contractually agreed gross annual salary in the first year of employment
- plus a variable salary payment amounting to 10% of the gross annual salary.
Other salary components or employer benefits are not taken into consideration for the calculation of the recruitment commission.
5.6 The Client shall inform the Recruiter of the candidate's remuneration relevant for the calculation of the recruitment commission when the employment relationship between the Client or one of its affiliated companies and the candidate has been established. In this context, the Recruiter shall not be given access to contractual documents or other internal documents of the Client or affiliated companies.
6. Settlement and payment due date
6.1 The Recruiter will invoice his recruitment commission in accordance with Section 5 as soon as an employment relationship has been established between the presented candidate and the Client or one of its affiliated companies and the Client has provided the Recruiter with the information necessary for calculating the commission.
6.2 The recruitment commission is subject to statutory value-added tax.
6.3 The recruitment commission is due for payment 30 days after receipt of a proper invoice.
6.4 The Recruiter shall transmit his invoice by e-mail to the responsible contact person of the Client.
7. Reimbursement of expenses and costs
7.1 The Recruiter is not entitled to reimbursement of own expenses incurred in the course of his recruiting activities.
7.2 The Client warrants to reimburse the candidate for documented necessary travel and accommodation expenses incurred by the candidate for the purpose of attending interviews.
The Recruiter will inform the candidate that the reimbursement of expenses must be requested from the Client using a form provided by the Client and that payment will be made to the candidate via bank transfer. If the costs to be reimbursed exceed an amount of EUR 500.00, the share of costs exceeding this amount will only be reimbursed if the Client has agreed to the reimbursement before the costs have been incurred.
8. Non-solicitation
8.1 The Parties undertake not to actively approach and solicit employees of the other party or its affiliated companies for open positions in their own or other companies during the cooperation and for a period of 12 months after the end of the cooperation.
8.2 The criterion for calculating the 12-month period as defined in Section 8.1 shall be the receipt of the notice of termination of the last engagement or receipt of the notification that the last engagement has ended due to the respective position's being filled.
9. Non-disclosure
9.1 The Client and the Recruiter undertake to treat all information they exchange in the course of their cooperation ("Confidential Information") as confidential and not to disclose it to third parties without the prior written consent of the other party. Furthermore, the Client shall ensure that its affiliated companies also maintain confidentiality.
9.2 This applies in particular to:
- personal and other miscellaneous data of candidates
- personal and other miscellaneous data of representatives, executives and employees of the Client and its affiliated companies
- personal and other miscellaneous data of representatives, executives, and employees of the Recruiter
- all non-publicly available information on the business operations of the Client and its affiliated companies
- all non-publicly available information on the business operations of the Recruiter.
9.3 This obligation shall apply for the duration of the engagement and for two years after it has ended.
9.4 The confidentiality obligation does not apply to information that is of general knowledge or was lawfully obtained from third parties who, to the knowledge of the receiving party, were not subject to a confidentiality obligation vis-à-vis the disclosing party and these third parties, in turn, did not obtain the information by violating protective provisions in favour of the disclosing party.
9.5 The receiving party may disclose the Confidential Information to its managing directors, employees or representatives without the prior consent of the disclosing party only to the extent (i) reasonably necessary to achieve the business purpose and (ii) the persons entrusted with the Confidential Information have been bound to keep the Confidential Information secret at least to the extent and for the period that the receiving party is bound to keep the Confidential Information secret based on this Section 9.
9.6 At the request of either party and once the engagement has ended, each party shall promptly return all Confidential Information received.
10. Privacy Policy
10.1 The Client collects, stores, and processes the data of candidates in accordance with the applicable privacy policy of the Client or, if data is permissibly passed on to affiliated companies, in accordance with the privacy policy of the company receiving the data.
10.2 The privacy policy for candidates can be found at:
https://www.viridium-gruppe.com/en/legal/privacy-policy-for-applicants/
10.3 The Client, its affiliated companies and the Recruiter shall take technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access to candidate data and information relating to the business operations of the Client, its affiliated companies, and the Recruiter.
10.4 On the part of the Client, only persons directly involved in filling open positions have access to candidate data.
10.5 The Client reserves the right to forward applications to affiliated companies if candidates may be considered for positions there. In this case, the Client will inform the Recruiter about the forwarding of the job application.
11. Ending and Terminating the Engagement
11.1 The engagement ends as soon as the respective position is filled (hiring of a candidate for full-time employment) or the staffing requirement no longer exists. The Client shall inform the Consultant within a reasonable period of time that the position has been filled or the staffing requirement no longer exists.
11.2 The Parties may terminate the respective contract at any time without notice in written form.
11.3 Ending or terminating the engagement does not result in any entitlement to reimbursement of expenses, damages, or any other remuneration on the part of the Recruiter vis-à-vis the Client or its affiliated companies.
11.4 Commission claims for candidates presented prior to notice of termination being received shall remain unaffected.
12. Liability
12.1 The Recruiter and its affiliated companies are liable for wilful or grossly negligent breaches of duty by their legal representatives, employees, and vicarious agents.
12.2 The Recruiter and its affiliated companies shall be liable for ordinary negligence of duty arising from the contractual obligation, limited to the amount of the damage typically foreseeable at the time of the conclusion of the contract.
12.3 The above limitation of liability shall not apply in cases of mandatory statutory liability, for assumption of a guarantee or for damage to life, limb, or health.
13. Final provisions
13.1 These Terms are solely subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.
13.2 The exclusive venue for all disputes arising from or in association with a recruitment is the competent court at the registered office of the Client. However, the Client is entitled to take legal action against the Recruiter at the Recruiter's place of business.
13.3 Changes or supplements to these General Terms and Conditions require an express written agreement to become effective. This also applies to any waiver of the written form requirement. Ancillary agreements are only valid if confirmed in writing.
13.4 Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.
As at: October 2024
These Terms apply to persons of all genders. The use of male pronouns is solely intended to facilitate the legibility of the Terms.