Recent news

Latest items of recent news relevant to Germany as reported in our fortnightly newswire ‘Dernières nouvelles’.

Germany: Wages grow faster than consumer prices in 2019

Between 2018 and 2019, gross pay increased by 2 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Short-time working

A Bill is being debated by the German Parliament (Bundestag) which will, if passed into law, allow employers to introduce short-time working (STW) …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Angela Merkel estimates coronavirus will hit 60% to 70% of Germans

Chancellor Angela Merkel has told the Bundestag (Parliament) that, according to her advice, 60-70% of the German population could eventually contract COVID-19 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Higher meal allowance

The official tax-exempt meal allowance for employees working outside of the office has increased to €14 (US$15 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Measles vaccination becomes mandatory

Medical and care staff at community and workplace childcare facilities must now provide proof of full measles vaccine protection under the newly introduced Measles Protection Act …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: The digital certificate of incapacity for work

With effect from January 1st, 2021, the yellow, paper-form sick leave note – officially called a Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung (incapacity to work certificate) will be abolished and replaced by an electronic certificate, which can be accessed directly by the employer …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Minimum wage rate for 2020

Employers are now taking stock of the 1 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: New immigration acts to attract and retain skilled workers

Hans-Eckhard Sommer, Head of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), believes that the attraction of well-educated young people from southern Europe into Germany is preferable to attracting refugees, as he sees them as far easier to integrate …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Occupational pensions

Back in 2018, the Act to Strengthen Company Pensions revolutionized occupational pensions by introducing pure DC schemes …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Rise of e-mobility puts ‘more than 400,000 jobs at risk’

A study published by the think tank “Future of Mobility (NPM)” has forecast that more than 400,000 German jobs will be at risk due to the switch to electric cars over the next 10 years …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: New law forces all retailers to issue receipts

Employees making minor expense claims no longer have the excuse that they did not receive a receipt …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Government opens labour market for skilled workers from non-EU countries

The Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz), which was adopted by the German Bundestag (national parliament) in June 2019, is expected come into force on March 1st 2020 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Application of exit tax

Those who move from Germany to Switzerland – where the move involves capital gains liabilities –  should now be able to take advantage of the opinion of the European Commission issued on 24 January 2019 concerning all EU transfers and the Wächtler decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ: 26th February 2019) …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: 1&1 hit with million-euro GDPR fine

The  Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) has imposed a €9 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.

Germany: Minimum salary level to increase for EU Blue Card applicants

Effective January 1st, 2020, the minimum annual gross salary for EU Blue Card applicants in Germany will rise by 2 …

Please login to view this content or become a member by joining now.