Key legal question
Whether the parties could validly agree to extend the labor court's subject-matter jurisdiction beyond the statutory limit.
Extracted holding
No. Subject-matter jurisdiction is determined ex officio and cannot be enlarged by party agreement.
Extracted reasoning
The labor court's competence was limited to claims up to CHF 5,000. The amount in dispute exceeded that limit, so the mandatory jurisdictional requirements were not met. Proceeding and deciding on the merits despite lacking jurisdiction violated fundamental procedural rules.