The Posted Workers Act applies to workers who:

• are posted to Germany across borders; or
• are regularly employed in Germany.

A worker is posted to Germany if:

• the employer is based abroad;
• the employee is temporarily employed for their employer in Germany; and
• that employee does not normally perform their work in or from Germany.

In principle, the Posted Workers Act also applies to short-term employment.

Only individual working conditions under the Posted Workers Act (AEntG) and the Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz - MiLoG) do not apply to certain short-term employment scenarios.

Workers employed by foreign employers are not entitled to the working conditions concerning remuneration, holidays and contributions to joint facilities in the following short-term employment scenarios.

• Initial assembly or installation work where the workers are employed in Germany for no more than 8 days in a given year and the work:
  
  • comprises an integral part of a supply contract;
  • is essential for the commissioning of the goods supplied; and
  • is carried out by skilled workers or qualified workers from the supplier.
  • This does not apply to construction work (work to establish, repair, maintain, modify or demolish buildings). For employment scenarios in this domain, the AEntG and MiLoG remain applicable even in the case of short-term employment.
• Activities where neither work nor services are provided to third parties, if the workers work in Germany for not more than 14 days at a time and not more than 30 days in a 12-month period and:
  
  • hold meetings or negotiations in Germany on behalf of their employer, draw up offers of contracts or conclude contracts;
  • attend a trade fair, specialist conference or presentation as a visitor without providing any work or services related to setting up or dismantling of trade fairs and exhibitions;
  • establish a part of the company in Germany on behalf of their employer; or
  • are employed, as an expert member of an international group or company, in the provision of further professional training in the German part of the group or company.
  • For the aforementioned employer-related services, workers are also not entitled to the guarantee of collectively agreed requirements for accommodation.

In principle, workers employed in Germany are entitled to have their employer grant them at least the following working conditions, insofar as these are mandated by law, universally applicable collective agreement or ordinance:

1. remuneration, including overtime rates, although not rules relating to occupational pension schemes;
2. the duration of annual leave, holiday pay or an additional holiday bonus;
3. the collection of contributions and the granting of benefits relating to leave entitlements by a joint facility of the parties to the collective agreement, provided that it is ensured that the foreign employer is not simultaneously required to contribute to the joint facility of the parties to the collective agreement and to a comparable facility in the state in which it is based and the procedure for the joint facility of the parties to the collective agreement provides for the crediting of the benefits already provided by the foreign employer in order to meet the statutory, collective or contractual leave entitlement of its employee;
4. maximum working time, minimum rest periods and breaks;
5. conditions for hiring out workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary work agencies;
6. health, safety and hygiene at work, including requirements for accommodation for workers, when made available by the employer directly or indirectly, whether for a fee or free of charge to workers located away from their regular place of work;
7. protective measures with regard to working and employment conditions for pregnant women and workers who have recently given birth, children and young people;
8. gender equality and other provisions on non-discrimination; and
9. allowances or reimbursement of expenses to cover travel, board and lodging for workers located away from their place of residence for professional reasons.

The Posted Workers Act (AEntG) with the working conditions to be guaranteed applies in principle to cross-border services in the international road transport sector.

Directive (EU) 2020/1057 contains special provisions on the application of posting regulations to drivers in the international road transport sector and on reporting and documentation obligations. These provisions were implemented by the Act on the Regulation of the Posting of Drivers in the Road Transport Sector and the Cross-Border Enforcement of the Posting of Workers Act, which came into force on July 1, 2023. Further information on the working conditions for posted workers in the road transport sector can be found at:

Application of the Minimum Wage Act in cross-border passenger and goods road transport

The working conditions to be complied with under German laws, regulations or administrative provisions are laid down in Section 2 of the Posted Workers Act. In particular, it should be noted that a general statutory minimum wage applies in Germany. For more information on the individual working conditions, see:

Minimum conditions of employment

In addition, certain sectors have laid down working conditions in collective agreements, and these must be observed. For an overview of the minimum working conditions laid down in collective agreements in each sector, see:

Minimum conditions of employment

Infringements of the Posted Workers Act (AEntG) as well as infringements of the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG), the Act on the Provision of Temporary Workers (AÜG) and the Act on the Safeguarding of Workers’ Rights in the Meat Industry (GSA Fleisch) are punishable administrative offences and may be subject to a fine of up to euros 500.000.

Anyone who has been fined at least euros 2 500 for failure to comply with the MiLoG or the AEntG may be temporarily excluded from competition for public supply, works or service contracts.

Fines of more than euros 200 under the MiLoG, the AEntG, the AÜG and the GSA Fleisch are entered in the Commercial Central Register (Gewerbezentralregister).

Infringements of the provisions of the Posted Workers Act (AEntG), the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG) and the Act on the Provision of Temporary Workers (AÜG) are prosecuted by the main customs offices responsible for prosecuting administrative offences in the field of combating undeclared work and illegal employment.

A business’s affiliation to a sector depends on the activities predominantly performed in the business or in the independent business unit. An activity is considered to be predominantly performed if it accounts for more than 50% of the total working time of all employed workers. Economic factors such as turnover or earnings and commercial criteria are irrelevant.

The obligation for employers based abroad to provide notification is laid down in Section 18 of the Posted Workers Act (AEntG), Section 16 of the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG) and Section 17b of the Act on the Provision of Temporary Workers (AÜG). Special provisions apply to drivers in the road transport sector posted to Germany!

Under the risk-based approach, employers based abroad are currently required to provide notification of workers they post to Germany to provide work or services if the posting takes place in one of the following sectors:

• building industry
• care provision
• catering and hotel business
• chimney sweep trade
• electrical trades
• fairground and amusement sector
• forestry
• gardening, landscaping and sports field construction
• haulage, transport, and associated logistics industry
• industrial cleaning trade
• meat industry
• painting and varnishing trade
• passenger transportation industry
• private security sector
• prostitution trade
• roofing trade
• scaffolding erection
• security guards at commercial airports
• setting up and dismantling trade fairs and exhibitions
• stonemasonry trade
• temporary agency work
• training and further training services in accordance with Book II or III of the Social Code
• waste management, including street cleaning and winter road maintenance

For more information, see:

Notification

If workers are hired out from an agency based abroad in order to work in Germany, the party using the temporary worker is obliged to provide notification. The agency does not have to provide any notification.

However, the agency is obliged to provide an assurance that it complies with the relevant working conditions. This assurance must be submitted when the party using the worker provides notification. The minimum wage notification portal provides a form for the agency’s assurance, which can be accessed, completed, stored and printed without a user account. The assurance is uploaded as a file (pdf, jpg, png, or tif format) by the party using the worker and attached to the notification itself. You can find more information in the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn (Minimum Wage Notification Portal).

Meldeportal-Mindestlohn

In principle, the subcontractor as the employer is obliged to provide notification.

An exception applies in the case of temporary agency work (see: Who must provide notification of posted workers when workers are hired out? (Who must provide notifications about posted workers in temporary agency work?)).

Notifications for workers posted to Germany must be provided online using the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn. It is no longer possible to provide notification by fax.

Meldeportal-Mindestlohn

Notifications must be provided before each work or service begins.

The notification must provide the following details:

• the workers’ surnames, given names and dates of birth;
• start date and expected duration of employment;
• place of employment or, in the case of construction work, the construction site;
• place in Germany where the documents required under Section 17 MiLoG, Section 19 AEntG or 17b AÜG are held;
• surname, given name, date of birth and address in Germany of the responsible individual;
• the sector in which the workers are to be posted (voluntary indication of the sector when providing notification under the MiLoG);
• surname, given name and address in Germany of a representative authorised to accept service insofar as this person is different from the responsible individual.

The notification must specify a responsible person who is present in Germany for the duration of the posting and is authorised by the employer.

The responsible individual may also be the representative authorised to accept service. Their role is to act as point of contact for the competent customs authorities. If necessary, the representative authorised to accept service must send and receive documents and communications.

No. You can notify up to 999 workers with a single notification.

However, notifications must be provided separately for each individual place of employment or construction site. Where workers are employed in more than one place of employment on the same day, a ‘(fixed) deployment plan’ must be submitted. For more information on the deployment plan, see:

Modified notification obligations

Exempt from the obligation to provide notification under the MiLoG and the AEntG are workers who

• are spouses, registered partners, children or parents of the employer.

The obligation to provide notification under the MiLoG does not apply to workers

• who receive a gross salary of more than euros 4.461 per month; or
• whose regular gross monthly salary exceeds euros 2.974 and to whom the employer has verifiably paid that monthly salary for the preceding 12 months (periods without entitlement to remuneration are not taken into account).
• However, in these cases where the salary limits are exceeded, the notification obligation under the AEntG and the AÜG remains! The notification obligation under the AEntG/AÜG applies in the following sectors:
  
  • waste management, including street cleaning and winter road maintenance
  • training and further training services in accordance with Book II or III of the Social Code
  • mainstream construction
  • Ground handling services at German commercial airports
  • roofing trade
  • electrical trades
  • Gardening, landscaping and sports field construction
  • building cleaning services
  • scaffolding erection
  • care provision
  • slaughter and processing (meat industry)
  • chimney sweep trade
  • stonemason and stone sculpturing trades.

Both exceptions do not apply to the registration of drivers who transport goods or passengers.

In principle, if the notified information changes, a change notification must be submitted without delay to the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn. The change notifications shall be identified by selecting the appropriate field in the electronic form.

Meldeportal-Mindestlohn

By way of exception, no change notification is required if:

• the deployment notified in a fixed deployment plan at a specific place of employment is postponed by less than 8 hours; or
• the employment scenarios notified in a mobile deployment plan differ from the information provided.

No. You can copy an already submitted notification as a template for a new notification (e.g. in case of a change notification). The copying option is available in the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn on the confirmation page (last page) of your sent notification. After copying the text, you can edit the new notification using the copied notification data.

The place of employment is a key part of the information to be notified. However, it is possible to initially submit the notification without a specific place and to submit a change notification, once the place of employment can be specified.

Yes. Regardless of the place of residence, this is a posting because the employer is based abroad, the worker is temporarily employed in Germany and has their habitual place of work abroad. This means notification must also be provided.

No. The obligation to provide notification applies irrespective of the size of the business.

In principle (unless a deployment plan is to be provided) each contract must be notified individually in the Meldeportal-Mindestlohn.

The obligation to notify applies to all employers based abroad who employ workers in Germany. The obligation may therefore also apply to self-employed persons.

Yes. Where there is a posting, transporters are obliged to provide a posting notification.

No. The obligation to notify applies to all employers based abroad who employ workers in Germany. Self-employed persons who do not have employees working in Germany are therefore not covered by the obligation.

No notification is required for workers who work in Germany for not more than 14 days at a time and not more than 30 days in a 12-month period, and:

• hold meetings or negotiations in Germany on behalf of their employer, draw up offers of contracts or conclude contracts;
• attend a trade fair, specialist conference or presentation as a visitor without providing any work or services related to setting up or dismantling of trade fairs and exhibitions;
• establish a part of the company in Germany for their employer; or
• are employed, as an expert member of an international group or company, in the provision of further professional training in the German part of the group or company.

No work or services may be provided to third parties in the context of the above-mentioned activities.

Furthermore, no notification is required for workers who work in Germany for not more than eight days within a year and who perform initial assembly or installation work which

1. forms part of a supply contract,
2. is essential in order to be able to bring the delivered items into service, and
3. is carried out by the supplier company’s skilled or semi-skilled workers.

This regulation does not apply to construction services (services that serve the construction, repair, maintenance, modification or removal of buildings).

The documentation obligation for employers based abroad is laid down in Section 19 of the Posted Workers Act (AEntG), Section 17 of the Minimum Wage Act (MiLoG), Section 17c of the Act on the Provision of Temporary Workers (AÜG) and the Minimum Wage Documentation Obligations Ordinance (MiLoDokV) and the Minimum Wage Recording Ordinance (MiLoAufzV).

The obligation to draw up timesheets and keep documents available rests with the employer.

In the case of temporary agency work, the person using the worker shall be subject to this obligation.

As a general rule, employers must keep the following documents available in German:

• employment contract or documents specifying the primary content of the employment relationship;
• timesheets showing the start, end and duration of the daily working time;
• pay slips; and
• evidence of wages having been paid.

Where additional documentation is required for auditing purposes, such documents shall be made available to the authority upon request.

The required documents must be kept in Germany for the duration of the entire service or work, but for no more than two years in total. At the request of the auditing authority, the documents shall also be available at the place of employment, in the case of construction work on the construction site.

Records relating to the recording of working time must be kept for a total of at least two years from no later than the date on which the obligation to keep records must be observed.

The documentation requirement does not apply to workers

• who are spouses, registered partners, children or parents of the employer.

The documentation requirement under the MiLoG does not apply to workers

• who receive a gross salary of more than euros 4.461 per month; or
• whose regular gross monthly salary exceeds euros 2.974 and to whom the employer has verifiably paid that monthly salary for the preceding 12 months (periods without entitlement to remuneration are not taken into account).
• However, in these cases where the salary limits are exceeded, the documentation obligation under the AEntG remains! The documentation obligation under the AEntG applies in the following sectors:
  
  • waste management, including street cleaning and winter road maintenance
  • further education services in accordance with Book II or III of the Social Code
  • construction sector
  • roofing trade
  • electrical trades
  • building cleaning services
  • scaffolding erection
  • care provision
  • chimney sweep trade
  • stonemason and stone sculpturing trades.

In these cases, German-language documents that establish the fulfilment of the relevant exemptions must simply be kept on hand.

The start, end and duration of the daily working time of workers and - where hourly-related supplements are to be granted, specifying the supplement concerned - the start, end and duration of the working time giving rise to entitlement to the supplement, shall be recorded in electronic or written form. More information on how to record working time can be found at:

Other obligations

Yes. For remote work, the recording of working time is simplified.

It is sufficient for the employer to record only the duration of the actual time worked every day for the workers concerned:

• if they are employed exclusively in remote activities;
• they are not subject to requirements concerning specific daily working times (start and end); and
• they are individually responsible for organising their own daily working time.

In this regard, employed exclusively in remote activity means not being bound to places of employment. This also includes:

• delivery of letters, packages and printed matter;
• waste collection;
• street cleaning;
• winter road maintenance;
• freight and passenger transport.

The worker is individually responsible for organising their own daily working time where they do not regularly have to accept work assignments from their employer or third parties during their daily working time or be available for corresponding work assignments. It must fall within the responsibility of the workers in question to determine when the daily work task is performed.

None.

The provisions of the Posted Workers Act apply to all workers posted to Germany, regardless of their nationality.

However, third-country nationals need a residence permit or Van der Elst visa in order to be posted to Germany. For more information, see:

Nationals of third countries

In principle, the foreign contractor must ensure that it grants its workers the relevant minimum working conditions for employment in Germany and that it fulfils its notification and documentation obligations.

However, as the contracting entity, you bear liability for the payment of the minimum wage and for payment of contributions to a joint facility. In addition, a fine of up to euros 500.000 can be imposed on you as the contracting entity if you commission a company about which or about whose subcontractors you know - or are negligently unaware - that they do not provide the minimum working conditions or do not do so in good time. In this respect, you should ensure that a contractor based abroad actually provides the minimum working conditions.

Please contact the Minimum Wage Hotline of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs should you have any further questions.

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

Minimum Wage Hotline

Monday to Thursday: 8:00 to 20:00
Freitag: 08:00 - 12:00 Uhr
Tel.: 030 60 28 00 28
E-mail: mindestlohn­@buergerservice.bund.de

More information on the notification obligation can be found on the national posting website under:

Notification