Customs authorities are responsible for verifying compliance with the Minimum Wage Act.
As part of employer audits, officials from the Customs Financial Control Unit for Illegal Employment (FKS) determine whether employers are paying their employees the applicable minimum wage within the permitted timeframe and whether documentation requirements regarding working hours, as well as the registration and contribution requirements for employment subject to social insurance contributions, are being met.
Documentation
To ensure that the minimum wage is actually paid for the hours worked, employers must, in certain cases, document their employees' working hours. This requirement applies to all marginally employed individuals (so-called mini-jobbers), with the exception of those employed in private households. It also applies to certain sectors, such as the construction industry, restaurants and hostels, building cleaning, forestry and meat processing, and freight forwarding, transport, and logistics, which are listed in the Act to Combat Undeclared Employment (SchwarzArbG).
However, the record-keeping requirement may be waived if certain salary thresholds are exceeded. There is no documentation requirement if the regular monthly salary exceeds €4,461 gross or has exceeded €2,974 gross within the last twelve months.
There are no formal requirements for the record-keeping requirement; handwritten documentation is also sufficient. However, the start, end and duration of daily working hours must be recorded no later than the end of the seventh calendar day following the day on which the work was performed, and these records must be kept for at least two years from the date on which they were recorded.