Minimum wage

The Act on the Regulation of a General Minimum Wage (MiLoG) has been in force since 01.01.2015. In accordance with Section 22 MiLoG, the scope of application of this law includes all employees employed in Germany and, as a rule, interns, whereby exceptions are regulated for these in Section 22 (1) MiLoG. Minors without completed vocational training were excluded from the scope of application of the MiLoG in accordance with Section 22 (2) MiLoG, trainees and volunteers in accordance with Section 22 (3) MiLoG and the long-term unemployed in the first 6 months of employment in accordance with Section 22 (4) MiLoG.

Since 01.01.2019, the minimum wage has been 9.19 euros. On 01.01.2020, the minimum wage will increase to 9.35 euros. According to Section 3 sentence 1 MiLoG, agreements that fall short of the minimum wage claim or restrict or exclude its assertion are invalid.

If a contractor engages other contractors (subcontractors) to carry out the tasks commissioned to him, he is liable for compliance with the statutory minimum wage by this subcontractor.

Employers are obliged to record the working hours of marginally employed and short-term employees and to keep these records for at least two years. This obligation also applies to temporary workers and to the sectors specified in Section 2a of the Act to Combat Clandestine Employment (e.g. construction industry, building cleaning industry). Violation of these employer record-keeping obligations is punishable as an administrative offense.

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