With\neffect as of 1 January 2020, a Germany-wide statutory minimum wage for\napprentices comes into effect. It will initially amount to EUR 515.00 gross per\nmonth and will gradually increase during the following years. Exemptions from\nthis minimum wage are only permissible by collective agreements concluded\nbetween employers and trade unions for individual industry sectors. From a\npractical point of view, however, it is estimated that less than 10 % of the apprentices\nworking in Germany will actually receive a remuneration increase due to the\nintroduction of the minimum wage. As many employers already pay a remuneration\nconsiderably above the minimum wage in order to fill open apprenticeship\npositions at all, the actual impact of the new minimum wage will likely remain\nlow and will mainly affect particular professions with traditionally low\nremuneration for apprentices (e.g. hairdressers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore,\nthe Germany-wide statutory minimum wage for employees will be increased from EUR 9.19 to EUR 9.35 gross per hour with\neffect as of 1 January 2020. The minimum\nwage is also due to be evaluated by the competent commission in 2020, which\ncould lead to further increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New law on immigration of skilled\nemployees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With\neffect as of 1 March 2020, a new law on the immigration of skilled employees\nwill be introduced in Germany. The law is supposed to make it easier for\nemployees from Non-EU and Non-EEA (European Economic Area and Switzerland)\ncountries to work in Germany. However, only people with a university degree or\na completed qualified apprenticeship will be able to gain access to employment\nin Germany through the new law. The new law will not be restricted to certain\noccupations and will abolish the previously mandatory priority check for\nskilled workers. The new law will make it considerably easier for employers to\nrecruit foreign skilled workers, intending to reduce the severe lack of skilled\nworkers in Germany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Potential changes due to the ECJ\nruling on the recording of working time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nEuropean Court of Justice has caused quite a stir with its ruling in May 2019\non employers\u2019 obligations regarding the recording of their employees\u2019 working\ntime. The ECJ ruled that the Member States must oblige employers to set up a\nsystem for the daily recording of working time. German law currently provides that\nonly overtime exceeding a working time of eight hours per day has to be\nrecorded. The German Working Time Act will have to be reviewed and amended in\nlight of the new ECJ ruling. However, the content and timing of such changes\nare still unclear at the moment. It is, therefore, also difficult to predict\nhow the ECJ ruling will actually affect work life in Germany for both employees\nand employers in practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Implementation of the new EU\nDirective on the protection of whistleblowers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The EU recently approved a directive aimed at extending and harmonizing the protection of whistleblowers. In particular, the directive obliges companies in the member states to set up internal reporting channels for whistleblowers. As EU directives do not directly apply in the Member States, Germany will have to implement the new regulations into national law within the next two years.
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