Do you need information about your rights at work in Germany?

In a mini job you are permitted to earn a maximum of €450. Relatively few hours are therefore worked per month. For example, as a mini job worker, you are permitted to work for a maximum of 48.12 hours per month if you are earning the statutory minimum wage of €9.50. The mini job is also referred to as “marginal employment”. As an employee in a mini job, you are not required to pay any social security or income tax contributions. This means you receive all of the wage. You pay only a minimal amount towards pension. This is unless you release yourself from the insurance obligation in the statutory pension insurance scheme. The employer, however, makes specific social insurance and tax contributions for the employment of the employee.

The same employment rights apply to you as to other employees. Your rights are contained within legislation or collective agreements. You are entitled, for instance, to the minimum wage and to holiday. You are also entitled the continued payment of your wage if you are ill or on holiday. Just because you have a mini job does not mean you must be treated any worse than other employees. If you are treated unfairly, you should contact a Fair Integration advice centre.

Yes! The statutory minimum wage of €9.35 also applies to mini jobs. Sectoral minimum wages, i.e. minimum wages in specific industry sectors which apply to all employees in this sector, also apply to you. A minimum wage of this type applies, for example, to building cleaning. For 2020, this is above the statutory minimum wage (wage group 1) at €10.55 in the east and €10.80 in the west (plus Berlin).

That depends on how much holiday has been agreed. Take a look at your contract of employment. You are definitely entitled to the minimum statutory leave or to the leave provided in the collective agreement. Please note that the statutory minimum leave and the regulations in the collective agreement always relate to a 5 or 6-day week. If you work for fewer days in the week, you also have fewer days holiday.

Important: Your employer is not permitted to demand that you take your holiday at times in which you are not working anyway. You are also not required to make up the lost hours.

If you are ill, you must call in sick to your employer and, no later than from the third day of illness, you must submit a certificate of incapacity for work (doctors note from the doctor/sick note). Take a look at precisely what was agreed in your contract of employment. If you have been working with your employer for four weeks and fall ill, with a mini job you are also entitled to the continued payment of your wage for six weeks during the illness.

Important: You are not required to work to make up the days lost due to illness in order to receive your wages.

No. The mini job alone does not ensure you are covered in terms of health insurance. You must look to see whether you can get health insurance in a different way, e.g. via the health insurance of a family member, via the job centre or by means of so-called voluntary insurance (for which you pay). You need health insurance in any event.

You also pay no unemployment insurance and receive no entitlement to unemployment benefit from the mini job.

As a mini job worker you pay a minimum amount into the pension insurance scheme. This gives you a minimum pension entitlement. However, you are also able to request not to have to pay this amount. Those times during which, as a mini job worker, you paid no contributions to the pension insurance scheme do not count towards your pension.

Yes. You are insured via your employer as part of the statutory accident insurance and provided for in the event of accidents at work.

Yes, a main job subject to social insurance contributions may be combined with a mini job.

You may also combine several mini jobs. Provided that the resulting income you earn is a maximum of €450 you are not required to pay social insurance contributions. If your total income exceeds €450, contributions must be paid for all jobs.

Important: You must always inform your employer about additional mini jobs and other second jobs.

In this case, the job is subject to social insurance contributions, which means that the employer must deduct contributions for sickness, pension and unemployment insurance from your salary. Your net salary will then be less than your gross salary. However, you will receive full insurance protection, for example under health insurance.

Important: If you regularly earn more than €450 but are still employed as a mini job worker, then this does not comply with legislation and your employer may be liable to prosecution. This may also have negative consequences for you. Find out what you can do about this from a Fair Integration advice centre.

You may be entitled to unemployment benefit II (Arbeitslosengeld (ALG) II) from the job centre and you may be able to apply for housing benefit (Wohngeld) so that you have enough to live off. Contact an advice centre for information! Note: If you are in receipt of unemployment benefit II (ALG II), the job centre will normally cover the costs of your health insurance.

A midi job is a job in which somebody earns between €450,01 and €1.300,00, in other words more than in a mini job. In Germany, the word “Gleitzone” is also used to refer to a midi job and is a reference to the sliding contributions scale which applies in this job. In these jobs you pay a small amount from your wages towards social insurance, however you are fully covered in terms of health insurance, nursing care, unemployment benefit and pension. From €850, the employee must contribute the full amount for social insurance.

Sources:

Minijob-Zentrale. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.