In the Corona year 2020, the financial control of illegal employment initiated a total of 4,220 investigative proceedings against companies for minimum wage violations. With 1,000 violations, the majority were in the construction industry, 715 in the catering and hotel industry and 272 in building cleaning. The newspapers of the Funke media group (Saturday editions) report on it, citing figures from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Customs, via dts news agency
In total, fines of almost 27.2 million euros were imposed, of which 8.1 million euros against construction companies and 6.16 million euros against the hospitality industry. In most cases, either the statutory or the industry-standard minimum wage was not paid. “Violations of minimum wages by dubious and criminal companies still affect tens of thousands of employees,” said the federal chairman of the industrial union Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG Bau), Robert Feiger, the Funke newspapers.
In view of these numbers, the IG Bau boss is calling for more controls and higher fines against minimum wage fraud in Germany. With 981 cases, most violations occurred in North Rhine-Westphalia. “And these are only the cases that were found during controls. The actual number is likely to be much higher, ”Feiger is convinced.
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“Even if the majority of the companies behave in accordance with the law, ‘black sheep’ with their machinations still ensure ‘Wild West methods’ on some construction sites. In order to prevent abuse, the union is also calling for a public minimum wage register in which violations by companies are recorded. On this basis, all “black sheep” should be excluded from the award of public contracts, says Feiger. Whoever plays wrong with tenders and does not adhere to the rules are no longer allowed to receive public contracts, said the union leader.
In addition, companies should be obliged to pay back the lost wages in the event of violations. So far, the fines as well as the lost social security contributions and taxes have to be paid, but not the lost wages, reports Feiger: “If the employees want their money, they are forced to sue for it themselves. That has to be over. “
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