Hidden structures of company customs

According to the courts and jurists in different countries (e.g. France, Germany, Italy, etc.), if an employer in a company continuatively grants their employees benefits for a long time (e.g. incentive bonuses, retention bonuses, vacations), that employer is almost always doing it to fulfil a legal obligation. This thesis holds true for labour judges, even if those obligations are not laid down in the contract nor provided for by any other formal legal source. Indeed, according to the judges and jurists, these obligations derive from a peculiar tacit source of legal obligations that are referred to as company customs [literal English translation of usage d'entreprise, betriebliche Übung, uso aziendale, etc.]. The employer cannot arbitrarily interrupt a long lasting pro-employee practice, despite the “nature” of company customs being unclear. The paper aims to produce a general analysis of company customs to make explicit its ontological and ideological presuppositions and the impact that a company custom can have on the rule of law.