In an employment relationship, which is a long-term obligation typically characterized by a prolonged duration, the employee's work performance often fails to occur. Whether the employer is still obligated to pay compensation is often a difficult question. The answer initially depends on the reasons for the non-performance. Illness, vacation, works council activities, and others may maintain a wage claim. Strikes, unexcused absences, and others regularly lead to the loss of that claim. Jurisprudence has frequently overridden written law when dealing with the associated problems. Terms like operational risk and labor dispute risk theory illustrate this. The author's central concern is to reintegrate the system of continued wage payment into written law. In doing so, the system must be coherent and capable of addressing practical issues.