Temporary workers are usually paid less than regular employees. On average, you save 600 euros per month. The Federal Labor Court has ruled that you get less money for the same work — there is no legal objection to this.
For Germany’s more than 800,000 casual employees, the federal labor court’s ruling is not good news. Because the court ruled: According to the so-called “equal pay for equal work” principle, equal pay for equal work, temporary work can be an exception.
9 euros per hour instead of 13 euros
A temporary worker from Bavaria who worked for the fashion company H&M for several months in 2017 complained. She denounced that her hourly wage was about 9 euros, a third less than that of regular employees, who earn more than 13 euros.
Under the legal protection of the DGB, she heard the case and claimed this wage difference. But without success. So she won’t make a difference of more than four euros per hour.
Lower wages must be stipulated in collective agreements
Temporary work may deviate from the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, the Federal Labor Court announced today. That is to stipulate this lower wage in the collective agreement. This is made possible by a European legal loophole exploited by Germany: “equal pay for equal work” applies in principle. When temporary employment agencies sign collective agreements with unions, they can still get paid less.
This has been the norm in Germany for many years. As a result, collective agreements are far less successful than casual work – at 98%. No wonder, because it is only through these collective agreements that temporary work agencies are allowed to pay their employees less wages. In the absence of a collective agreement, “equal pay for equal work” will apply from the first day of work.
ECJ default judgment
The federal labor courts have nothing to complain about. In reaching their decision, the judges must take into account the ruling of the European Court of Justice. He put the case on the table in December because it had been brought before a federal labor court.
At the time, the European Court of Justice said temporary and permanent employees must be equally protected. Casual employees may be paid less. If that’s the case, they have to be compensated for it – for example, much more vacation time.
Time between tasks is also paid
The federal labor court must now clarify what this means for German law. The plaintiffs and DGB Legal Defense insisted that no compensation for the lower wages was provided in the collective agreement.
Still, the judges agreed. But they see balance elsewhere, namely in the law. Unlike other EU countries, temporary workers in Germany are paid for the time between work assignments, i.e. even when they are available. This is required by law. From the perspective of the federal labor court, this payment compensates for lower wages during non-operating hours.
Plaintiffs’ lawyer Rudolf Buschmann admitted he had hoped for more after the ECJ ruling. “It’s a loss, let’s wait and see what that means,” Buschman said. He couldn’t understand the arguments of the federal labor court. After all, regular employees get paid when they have nothing to do.
Unions are in dire straits
Clearly, the decision has implications beyond individual cases. Other temp workers should and will not have the opportunity to sue for higher wages now.
Employers are happy. As Martin Dreyer of the German temporary employment agency IGZ interest group explains, they want to continue with collective agreements.
Unions are in a tough spot right now. They had to endure questions from federal labor court judge Rüdiger Linck as to why they signed collective agreements that made lower wages possible in the first place. If there is no collective agreement, “equal pay” will eventually apply.
no answer. There was no reaction from the union to today’s verdict. You are currently in collective bargaining with a temporary employment agency. Most importantly, it’s about the inflation premium for temp workers who don’t want to pay temp job agencies. It doesn’t look like they are rethinking collective bargaining.