Every player interested or already active in the German market needs to have a working knowledge of the key principles of German employment law which offers a good level of protection to employees. This is especially true for multinationals not fully familiar with the concepts of co-determination and dismissal protection, both key elements of German employment law and widespread in the EU. This 101 gives a high level overview of key practical issues employers face.

Remuneration Salary can generally be freely negotiated between employer and employee except collective bargaining agreements do apply. The Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz – MiLoG) currently provides for a statutory minimum wage of € 9.82 gross per hour. The minimum wage will increase to € 10.45 gross per hour as of July 1, 2022. The federal government has announced that it plans to increase the minimum wage to € 12.00 gross per hour by way of an additional increase already in 2022. It is generally binding for all employment relationships and for all employers no matter what size and sector. Only very few exceptions apply to certain employee groups (e.g., students, interns).