Hendrik Röger
Biography
Overview
Hendrik's practice focuses on labor law for national and international clients advising managers and HR departments in all areas of labor law. He is particularly specialized in navigating complex transactions with labor law issues, including transfer of undertakings (TUPE) and drafting M&A agreements. He has considerable experience handling extensive restructuring matters, including headcount reductions, operational changes, legal reorganizations, outsourcing projects and negotiations with works councils and unions, in particular in the aviation, automotive and energy industry. Hendrik also advises clients in compliance matters and disputes involving board members, managing directors, executives and employees. Hendrik regularly represents clients before labor courts in all instances (local labor courts, regional labor courts and federal labor court) and before civil courts.
Hendrik is particularly highly regarded as specialist for restructuring and insolvency labor law, acting for insolvency administrators, companies under self administration and investors in Distressed M&A deals. Germany JUVE handbook highlights Hendrik as as "luminary in the area of insolvency labor law" and Legal 500 states that Hendrik has "deep legal expertise, industry insight, high flexibility and intercultural competence, making a difference compared to competitors".
Hendrik has published several articles and legal commentaries in the area of insolvency labor law and labor law with reorganizations. Before joining White & Case, Hendrik Röger was a research assistant at the Institute for Labour Law at the University of Hamburg, visiting lecturer at the University of Hamburg, at Hamburg Media School and for the Bucerius Executive Education Program at Bucerius Law School. Hendrik is acting as trainer for Beck Akademie and Bar Association Stuttgart as well as in-house trainer for clients.
Hendrik is a member of the Lawyers' Association Hamburg, the Hamburg Association for Labor Law and the Labor Law Group of the German Bar Association.
Experience
Insolvency and Restructuring Labor Law Advice – Employment, Restructuring, M&A
Advising in the restructuring, sale / acquisition or shutdown of companies in different industries, for example:
- Automotive / Metal: Auto Wichert, Duisburg Special Tubes, Ernst Koch, Gemo, Heinrich Huhn, Henschel, JD Norman, Linden / SMK, Metalsa / ISE Automotive, Piel & Adey, PZW, Schaidt, Sachsenring Bike Manufaktur, Whitesell
- Aviation: Air Berlin, airberlin technik, Condor, Hamburg International, Hamburg Airways
- Consumer & Retail: Beate Uhse, Hertie, Innova, Kronenbrot, Lux Deutschland, Schieder, Spiele Max, Staples (OfficeCentre)
- Energy: Conergy, Flexstrom, German Pellets, natGAS, TelDaFax
- Fashion: Ahlers (Pierre Cardin, Baldessarini, Pionier, Pioneer), Appelrath Cüpper, Bonita, Esprit, Gardeur, Ludwig Görtz, Orsay, TriStyle Group (Peter Hahn, Madeleine)
- Health Care: Aquis Care, AvP, Caritas Hamburg, Curata, Paracelsus, Sanicare
- Shipping / Yards: FSG Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, Fosen Nordseewerke
- Touristic / Leisure: GfR (Thomas Cook), NIKI, STA Travel
- Other: Forum Blohm & Voss Oil Tools (Oil&Gas), Feilo Sylvania Germany (Lighting), Gigaset (Telecommunications), Harfid (Construction), Interconti Hamburg (Hotel), Tetenal (Chemistry / Photo)
Air Berlin Group – Employment, Restructuring, Litigation
Advising aviation group Air Berlin in several restructuring projects, including representation in works council negotiations, highly complex conciliation processes and court cases / injunctive relief cases.
Caterpillar – Employment, Restructuring, Litigation
Advising Caterpillar in several restructuring and employment projects, including representation in works council and union negotiations.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management – M&A, Employment
Advising institutional investors advised by the Global Infrastructure group at J.P. Morgan Asset Management with the acquisition of GETEC, one of Europe's leading sustainable energy service companies for real estate and industrial customers.
TUIfly – Employment, Litigation
Advising TUI Group's German airline in employment and labor matters, including litigation.
Handbooks
- Insolvency Labor Law – Handbook, Munich, 2nd Edition, 2024, (Insolvenzarbeitsrecht – Handbuch, 2. Auflage)
- Insolvency Money. In: Handbook Insolvency. Ed. Joachim Kraemer, Heinz Vallender and Norbert Vogelsang. Bonn, 106th update, October 2022 (Insolvenzgeld, in: Handbuch zur Insolvenz, 106. Ergänzungslieferung, hrsg. von Vallender / Vogelsang) (with Bero-Alexander Lau)
- Labor Law With Restructuring Asset Deals. In: Handbook Labor Law in Restructuring and Insolvency – Ed. Burkhart Göpfert and Steffen Schöne. Köln, 2nd Edition, 2019 (Arbeitsrecht in der übertragenden Sanierung, in: Handbuch Arbeitsrecht in Restrukturierung und Insolvenz, 2. Auflage, hrsg. von Göpfert / Schöne) (with Sven-Holger Undritz)
- Labor Law with Cyber-Security – Preparedness and Response. In: Legal Handbook Cyber-Security. Ed. Detlev Gabel, Tobias Heinrich, Alexander Kiefner, Frankfurt, 2019 (Arbeitsrecht, in: Rechtshandbuch Cyber-Security, hrsg. Von Gabel / Heinrich / Kiefner)
Legal Commentary
- Commentary on §§ 4, 92 Act on Stabilization and Restructuring Framework for Enterprises. Ed. Christoph Morgen. Cologne, 2021 (Kommentierung der arbeitsrechtlichen Vorschriften von §§ 4, 92 StaRUG, hrsg. von Christoph Morgen)
- Commentary on Sec. 322-325 Merger Act. In: Merger Act – Corporate Law, Tax Law, Procedural Law – Ed. Lars Böttcher, Oliver Habighorst and Christian Schulte. Baden-Baden, 2nd Ed., 2019 (Kommentierung der §§ 322 – 325 UmwG, in: Nomos-Kommentar Umwandlungsrecht – Gesellschaftsrecht | Steuerrecht | Verfahrensrecht, 2. Auflage, hrsg. von Böttcher / Habighorst / Schulte)
Articles
- Insolvency law beats labor law – no reinstatement claims with insolvency proceedings. In: ZIP 2022, Issue 50, Pages 2528-2536 (Insolvenzrecht schlägt Arbeitsrecht: Kein Wiedereinstellungsanspruch im Insolvenzverfahren, zugleich Besprechung von BAG, Urt. v. 25.5.2022 - 6 AZR 224/21) (with Kristin Brüggert)
- Insolvency labor law – legal expertise summary. In: AE 2019, Pages 191-194 (Insolvenzarbeitsrecht – Spezialwissen kompakt) (with Holger Meyer)
- Fight or Flight? Required labor law reactions with an insufficient insolvency estate. In: ZInsO 2019, Issue 8, Pages 368-374 („Fight or Flight"? Arbeitsrechtlicher Handlungsbedarf bei Masseunzulänglichkeit) (with Sebastian Stütze)
Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt 2020-2023
Labor and Employment Law
Highly Recommended Lawyer, Legal 500, 2022
Labor and Employment Law
Highly Recommended Lawyer, JUVE 2021/2022
Labor and Employment Law
Highly Recommended Lawyer, Best Lawyers/Handelsblatt 2020-2023
Labor and Employment Law
