Dienstleistungsportal Bayern

The Employee Posting Act applies to employers in all industries insofar as working conditions are regulated by law. If the working conditions are regulated in collective agreements, however, employers based abroad are only obliged to comply with German collective agreement standards if these are also mandatory (through a declaration of general applicability or a legal ordinance) for all corresponding German employers. In the care sector (geriatric care and outpatient nursing), employers can be obliged by legal ordinance to comply with the working conditions proposed by a commission.

If employers based abroad employ workers in Germany for longer than twelve months (so-called long-term secondment), the employer is obliged to observe further regulations in addition to the working conditions to be observed for each employment. All working conditions regulated in legal and administrative regulations as well as in generally binding collective agreements then apply. The additional regulations must be observed from the day on which the employee has been employed in Germany for more than twelve months. The period from which the additional regulations apply to long-term employment in Germany can be extended to eighteen months. To do so, the employer must submit a notification to the customs authorities in accordance with Section 13b (2) of the Employee Posting Act (AEntG).

In addition, there is a binding lower wage limit in the temporary employment sector that applies equally to temporary employment agencies based in Germany and to temporary employment agencies based abroad that provide temporary workers to perform work in Germany.

Further information on the relevant working conditions can also be found on the homepage of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and on the homepage of the customs authorities responsible for monitoring the Employee Posting Act.

Furthermore, there are various obligations to be observed which serve to control compliance with the prescribed working conditions:

Registration and insurance

Insofar as working conditions in collective agreements are also applicable to employers based abroad by means of a declaration of general applicability or a legal ordinance, the following applies:
Employers based abroad who post one or more employees to Germany to perform work or services are obliged to register the employees with the competent authority of the customs administration in accordance with Section 18 (1) AEntG and to submit an insurance policy in accordance with Section 18 (2) AEntG.

Hiring companies that borrow workers from a hiring company based abroad must submit a declaration in accordance with Section 18 (3) AEntG, Section 17b (1) of the German Personnel Leasing Act (AÜG) and an insurance policy from the hiring company in accordance with Section 18 (4) AEntG, Section 17b (2) AÜG.

Employers and hirers should submit the registrations online with the help of the registration portal minimum wage of the customs administration.

Further information on registration and insurance as well as on reporting changes can be found on the homepage of the customs administration authorities responsible for monitoring the Employee Posting Act.

Keeping records of working hours

Insofar as working conditions in collective agreements are also applicable to employers based abroad by means of a declaration of general applicability or a legal ordinance, these employers, like employers based in Germany, are obliged under Section 19 para. 1 AEntG, they are also obliged to record the beginning, end and duration of the daily working time of the employees and, insofar as hourly bonuses are to be granted, the beginning, end and duration of the working time which gives rise to an entitlement to a bonus, stating the respective bonus, at the latest by the end of the seventh calendar day following the day on which the work is performed, and to keep these records for at least two years from the time relevant for the recording.

Pursuant to Section 19 (1) Sentence 2 AEntG and Section 17c (1) AÜG, the same obligation applies to any hirer who has workers provided by a temporary employment agency, regardless of whether the agency is based in Germany or abroad.

Further information can be found on the homepage of the customs authorities responsible for monitoring the Posting of Workers Act.

Keeping documents available

Employers with their registered office in Germany and employers with their registered office abroad must keep the documents required for checking compliance with the working conditions under the AEntG and the AÜG in Germany and in the German language in accordance with Section 19 (2) AEntG and Section 17c (2) AÜG:

• Employment contract, or the documents from which the essential contents of the employment relationship are derived (Evidence Directive, Official Journal of the EC No. L288/32 of 18.10.1991.
• timesheets, which must differentiate according to place of employment if regionally different minimum wages come into consideration
• Wage slips
• Evidence of wage payments made

The four types of documents listed above must be kept available in Germany in any case. If additional documents are required, these must also be made available for inspection by the inspection authority without delay.

Insofar as employers wish to invoke flexible working hours, further documents must be kept available in Germany in addition to the usual inspection documents:

• Written agreement on flexible working hours
• Compensation account (for each employee), if necessary separate hourly records for new federal states/old federal states
• Proof of security for the compensatory account (e.g. bank guarantee, blocked account), if required by collective agreement or legal ordinance.

At the request of the inspection authority, the employer must present the documents at the place of employment, in the case of construction work at the construction site.

Further information can be found on the homepage of the customs authorities responsible for monitoring the law on the posting of workers.