When mini-jobbers become a risk

WirtschaftsWoche: FC Bayern has to pay 45,000 euros in evaded social benefits plus late payment penalties to the health insurance companies and a 200,000 euro fine on top of that because of dumping wages for coaches in the youth sector – from 2016 to 2021. What’s behind it?
Thomas Müller: The Minimum Wage Act has been in effect since 2015. Since then, every employer, including FC Bayern, has had to pay its employees a minimum wage for each hour actually worked. In 2015, the minimum wage was €8.50. It’s now at 12 euros. That meant in 2015 employees with 450-euro contracts were allowed to work a maximum of 42.9 hours per month. In addition, such a mini-job is only exempt from social security contributions if the employee is not entitled to more than 450 euros in remuneration, i.e. has not worked more hours than agreed. If FC Bayern’s mini-jobbers had regularly worked more than 42.9 hours a month, the EUR 450 limit would have been exceeded. The result would be that the social security-free mini-job became an employment that was fully subject to social security contributions and additional payments were due.