Employer Refuses to Pay Wages: Employees Right in Germany

Key takeaways

• You have certain rights as an employee in Germany. One of them is the right to wages.
• You can take legal action against the employer if they don’t pay the salary. Moreover, filing legal action in the German labor court doesn’t cost a cent.
• You must demand the outstanding wages in writing to your employer.
• You have the right to stop working if you don’t get wages for two months. However, you must inform the employer in writing before you do so.
• You can also terminate the job contract without notice if the employer doesn’t pay the two months’ salary. However, you must warn the employer in writing before terminating the contract.

This is how you do it

• Contact the “Federal Employment Agency” or “Job Center” and apply for “Unemployment Benefits I” or “Citizen Benefits,” respectively.
• Inform your health insurance company about the situation.
• File legal action at the labor court free of charge.
• If required, go to the district court to hire a bailiff to force the employer to pay the wages.
• File a complaint with the “Financial Control of Illegal Employment (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (FKS)).”
• You should consider getting employment legal insurance to support you in such situations. In our comparison and test, we found the legal insurance plans of Arag*, KS-Auxilia*, and WVG the best.

Table of Contents

You worked for a company, a restaurant, or a contractor in Germany. After one month, you haven’t received the salary.

You asked your boss when you would receive the salary. The boss told you there was some accounting error, and you would get the wages next month.

Two months have passed, but you haven’t received your wages. The boss gives you another explanation for the non-payment of wages. And later stops answering your calls or emails.

What can you do in this situation? Here are the steps you can take.

Step 1: Contact the job center or Federal employment agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit)

First things first. You need money to pay the bills. Unfortunately, getting the wages from the employer may take some time.

So, inform the Federal Employment Agency about your situation and apply for “Unemployment Benefits I (Arbeitslosengeld I).”

Suppose you are not eligible for unemployment benefits. In this case, you can contact the “Job Center” to apply for “Citizen benefits (Bürgergeld).”

Processing the application usually takes several weeks. So, you can request the Job Center for an advanced payment as you don’t have money to pay the bills.

The first step will cover your financial situation. Next is to ensure your health coverage.

Step 2: Contact your health insurance company

Ask the health insurance provider if your employer paid the social security contributions. If the employer hasn’t, submit your employment contract and other work-related documents to prove your employment relationship.

Your employer is responsible for paying the social security contributions. Thus, the health insurance provider will collect them from the employer.

This ensures your health insurance coverage is not compromised.

Step 3: Demand wages from the employer in writing

In Germany, everything should be done in writing. Otherwise, it’s tough to prove in the court.

You should send a letter to your employer via registered post. In the letter, mention the outstanding wages and the deadline for paying them.

You should write the letter in German. This will avoid the effort of translating it when things go to court. You can write a letter

• yourself,
• take help from the advice center.

You can also exercise your right of “Reservation of performance (Leistungsvorbehalt).” This means you can refuse to work if you don’t get the wages.

However, you can exercise the right after two months of work without wages. If you want to exercise “Reservation of performance,” you must inform your employer in writing.

Step 4: Contact an Advice Center in Germany

If you are lost and need support, you can contact an advice center near you. They offer free advice and educate you about your rights in Germany.

You can find the advice centers here:

• https://bema.berlin/en/
• https://www.arbeitundleben.de/arbeitsfelder/beratungsnetzwerk
• https://www.faire-mobilitaet.de/en
• https://www.eu-gleichbehandlungsstelle.de/eugs-en/eu-citizens/searching-for-an-advice-centre

Suppose the employer didn’t pay the salary after the written notification. You must take legal action against the employer.

Step 5: Go to labor court (Arbeitsgericht) in Germany

• Go to the legal court in the district where your employer is based.
• You don’t need a lawyer to file a legal complaint. You can represent yourself. Suppose you don’t speak German. You can ask one of your friends to translate for you in the court.
• Go to the “Legal application office (Rechtsantragstelle)” in the labor court. Explain your situation to them and submit the documents (work contract, ID, number of hours worked, witnesses, etc.). The “legal application office” will write the legal action for you free of charge.
• Suppose you don’t want to go to the labor court. In this case, you can fill out the claim form (Formular Arbeitsgerichtliches Klageverfahren) and send it to the labor court via registered post or fax.
• You can download the claim form on the labor court’s website.  Here is the sample claim form.

Once you have filed the legal action, the court will send you a letter urging you to attend a conciliation meeting (Gütetermin).

The goal of this meeting is to check if you and the employer can come to an agreement.

The meeting proceedings are in German. You can request the presence of an interpreter or a friend who can translate for you. You must pay the interpreter’s costs yourself. 

Usually, the legal dispute is resolved at this first appointment. If it doesn’t, the matter goes to court.

You can also hire a lawyer if you don’t want to represent yourself in the labor court. However, you must pay the lawyer’s fees yourself.

Suppose you can’t afford a lawyer and don’t have legal insurance to cover the legal costs. You can request for a legal aid.

You don’t have to pay any legal costs if the legal aid is granted. You can learn more about it in our guide on legal aid in Germany.

Step 6: Go to the district court

Suppose the employer doesn’t pay after the settlement or judgment in the labor court. You can hire a bailiff to force the employer to pay the wages.

The local district court where the employer is based assigns the bailiff. You can find the responsible district court online.

Sue the employer for the damages due to the delay in wages

Getting a salary for your work is your right. But what about the stress and other damages caused by non-payment of wages?

You can sue your employer and claim the damages due to the delay in wages. You have two options.

• File a complaint at “Financial Control of Illegal Employment (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (FKS))”
• Hire a lawyer and sue for the damages

File a complaint at “Financial Control of Illegal Employment (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit (FKS))”

If the employer doesn’t pay the wages, they are punishable by law. You can file a complaint at the local “Financial Control of Illegal Employment (FKS).” 

The FKS controls whether employers pay the minimum wage and social security contributions for their employees. 

The complaint at FKS doesn’t help you get your salary. However, it does lead to FKS examining the situation and punishing the employer if found guilty.

The FKS can punish the employer with a fine or even imprisonment for tax and social security fraud. While filing the complaint, you should provide the following information to the FKS.

• duration of your employment,
• working hours,
• witnesses,
• work contracts, etc.

You can contact the FKS via phone or email. Here are the details.

• Monday to Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Telephone: +49 228 303-26020
• Email: info.privat @zoll.de
• De-Mail: auskunft-zoll.gzd @zoll.de-mail.de
• Fax: +49 228 303-97924
• Website: zoll.de 

Hire a lawyer

To assert your rights in Germany, you need a lawyer. You can hire a lawyer to sue your employer.

You can claim the following damages.

• Compensation for the damage incurred from non-payment or late payment, 288 para. 4 BGB,
• Default interest in the amount of five percentage points above the base interest rate per year, § 288 par. 1 BGB,

However, lawyers are expensive in Germany. This is why we recommend taking legal insurance in Germany.

Legal insurance covers the legal costs of the dispute. Usually, it also pays the opposing party’s legal costs if you lose. However, labor law is an exception.

In labor law, the losing party doesn’t pay the winning party’s legal costs. Read our guide on employment legal insurance to learn more.

In our comparison and test, we found that Arag*—Aktiv-Premium, WGV—Optimal PBV, and KS-Auxilia*—Jurprivat are the best legal insurance plans.

Unfortunately, no legal insurance provider in Germany offers services in English. Insurance agents like Feather* and Getsafe* offer basic English support. However, when you need legal advice, you must contact the insurance company, which only offers advice in German.

Feather and Getsafe sell Roland’s legal insurance plans. Roland is rated very good by DISQ (rating agency).

NOTE: Top rating agencies in Germany rated Arag—Aktiv-Premium, WGV—Optimal PBV, and KS / Auxilia—Jurprivat as the best legal insurance plans in Germany.

References

• https://www.eu-gleichbehandlungsstelle.de/eugs-de/praxisleitfaden/nichtauszahlung-des-lohnes
• https://se-legal.de/employment-lawyers-germany/wage-arrears-employee-rights/?lang=en