Consultation hours: by appointment.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Pionteck, MA | LinkedIn

List of publications

Alexander Pionteck has been Professor of Business and Labor Law at the departement of Economics since the winter semester of 2025/26. His research areas include civil law, labor law, and the sociology of law. majors on works constitution law, collective bargaining law, and industrial action law. He also explores the interfaces between labor law and social security law, data protection law, and insolvency law.

Professor Pionteck studied law with a Major in labor and social law (first state examination) and sociology (Bachelor and Master of Arts) at Justus Liebig University Giessen and the University of Genoa (Italy). In his research, he combines both fields of study and subjects the premises of law to critical reflection.

Professor Pionteck completed his legal traineeship at the Gießen Regional Court (Second State Examination), including placements at the Gießen Regional Council and in the labor law department of an international commercial law firm in Frankfurt am Main. Prior to this, he worked for several years as a research assistant at the renowned Institute for Labor Law and Social Security Law at the University of Bonn. During this time, he wrote a doctoral dissertation on collective labor law, focusing on strengthening collective bargaining autonomy , and a master's thesis in the sociology of labor law entitled " On Establishing Legitimacy in Labor Court Decision-Making Practice – From Ideology to Legal Myth?" , both of which were published by prestigious publishers, including the series on the sociology of law and empirical legal research edited by Manfred Rehbinder and Andreas Voß, former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, published by Duncker & Humblot in Berlin.

Professor Pionteck worked for several years as a lawyer specializing in labor law, initially for an international commercial law firm with Major in advising companies, and most recently for a firm specializing in advising works councils in large companies and corporations. Among other things, he advised and represented the central works council of a German department store group in connection with the negotiations on a reconciliation of interests and a social plan during insolvency proceedings, which were also publicly .

Professor Pionteck is the author of numerous publications in renowned legal journals and commentaries, including Beck's Commentary on the Working Time Act and Beck's Online Commentary on the Works Constitution Act. He is a member of the German Lawyers' Association (Deutscher Juristentag e.V.), the Gießen Law Society (Juristische Studiengesellschaft Gießen e.V.), and the Legal History Study Group (Rechtshistorischer Studienkreis e.V.). Professor Pionteck has extensive teaching experience gained at various universities in Germany and abroad and regularly gives lectures on labor law. He has served on several occasions as an expert witness and consultant for works councils, trade unions, and government ministries on labor law issues.

Professor Pionteck regularly appears in the media as an expert on labor law, commenting on current developments in labor and collective bargaining law in interviews and press statements. He was most recently a guest on tagesschau24

Lectures:

1. “Employee protection versus insolvency law distribution logic – on the fate of selected employee claims in corporate insolvency”, lecture at the 12th Procedural Law Conference 2026, July 30, 2026, Augsburg.
2. “Company-level trade union rights and scope of action of the works council”, presentation at the HSI Company Policy Conference 2026, June 23, 2026, Frankfurt am Main.
3. “Maximum weekly working hours and association membership – collective bargaining law as an organization-bound regulatory model”, presentation at the spring conference of the Social Policy Committee of the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI), March 5, 2026, Offenbach.
4. Bogus self-employment - scope and limits of social security law sanctions, lecture at the 2nd Young Social Law Conference at the GKV-Spitzenverband, Solidarity and Self-Responsibility, 18.03.2025, Berlin.
5. “Union law trumps national procedural law! – on the incompatibility of Section 12a Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 of the German Labour Courts Act (ArbGG) with Union law and its consequences”, lecture at the 10th Procedural Law Conference at the University of Bonn, Procedural Law and Rule of Law, 31.08.2024, Bonn.
6. “The framework of current law”, lecture at the 14th Hans Böckler Forum on Labor and Social Law, majors for a future works constitution (ecological transformation, strategic planning and individual rights of employees), 22.02.2024, Berlin.
7. “Facebook in corporate practice – opportunities and limitations”, presentation at the 9th Assistant Conference in Labor and Social Security Law, July 27, 2019, Berlin.
8. “Strengthening collective bargaining autonomy”, lecture at a doctoral conference on labor law initiated by the law firm Pinsent Masons, June 28, 2018, Düsseldorf.