English-speaking unpaid-salary lawyers in Germany. If your employer is paying you late, paying the wrong amount, or refusing to pay an earned bonus or commission, German law is firmly on your side — but only if you act before the contractual Ausschlussfrist cuts the claim off. Most German employment contracts give you only three months from the due date to assert the claim in writing.
What you are entitled to under German employment law
Your employer owes you everything that is contractually agreed: base salary, agreed bonus, agreed commissions, agreed allowances (Sachbezüge, lunch vouchers, mobility budgets), and any payments mandated by collective agreement or works-council agreement that apply to your employment. On top of that, the German Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz) sets a hard floor (currently €12.82 per hour for 2026, raised periodically) that cannot be waived even by mutual agreement.
Under § 614 BGB the salary is due after the service has been performed — i.e. typically at the end of the month for the month worked. Almost all contracts specify a concrete payment date (e.g. “on the last bank-business day of the month”). Once that date passes without payment, your employer is in default (Verzug) and owes statutory default interest of 5 percentage points above the Bundesbank base rate.
The Ausschlussfrist trap — your most dangerous deadline
Most German employment contracts contain a two-step exclusion clause (zweistufige Ausschlussklausel): you have three months to assert the claim in writing to your employer, and another three months to file suit if the employer refuses. Miss either deadline and the claim is barred — even if it would have been entirely justified on the merits.
To preserve a wage claim, send a written demand for payment (Geltendmachung) by email or letter, naming the specific months and amounts, within three months of when each payment was due. Generic complaints, casual mentions, or “we’ll talk about this” do not count. The demand must be specific enough that the employer knows exactly what is claimed.
Step-by-step: what we do when you bring us an unpaid-salary case
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Contract & payslip review
We check your contract for the Ausschlussfrist and any bonus / commission / overtime provisions. We check your payslips against the contract.
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Written Geltendmachung (within 24h)
A formal written demand for payment naming the specific months and amounts, with a deadline (typically 10–14 days). This preserves the claim against the Ausschlussfrist.
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Mahnung + Verzugszinsen
If the deadline passes, formal default applies and statutory interest of 5 ppt above the base rate accrues. We document this for any later court claim.
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Labor-court claim (Zahlungsklage)
If the employer doesn’t pay, we file at the competent Arbeitsgericht. Wage claims tend to move faster than dismissal cases — many resolve at the Gütetermin with a payment plan within 6–8 weeks.
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Calibrated tone if you want to keep the job
Where you want to remain employed, the demand letter is tonally calibrated. Often a well-drafted lawyer’s letter resolves the matter without filing.
Bonus and commission disputes
Bonus and commission disputes are common, especially in finance, tech, and sales roles. The starting point is the contract: what does it say about the bonus formula, eligibility on the payment date, and discretionary elements? German courts are skeptical of „fully discretionary” bonus clauses and often hold them invalid. Even where a clause is upheld, the employer must exercise discretion “according to equitable consideration” (billiges Ermessen, § 315 BGB) and explain its reasoning — a bonus of zero in a profitable year without justification is rarely lawful.
Common levers we use in bonus disputes:
- Show that the bonus is in substance a fixed element of remuneration (target attainment automatically triggers the payment) and not truly discretionary.
- Show that comparable employees received the bonus, raising an equal-treatment argument.
- Show that the eligibility cut-off — „must be employed on the payment date” — violates the BAG case-law (18 January 2012, 10 AZR 612/10) where the bonus is more than a token amount.
- Show that the formula has been applied incorrectly (we will request the underlying figures via document-disclosure claim).
Overtime compensation
Whether overtime is paid extra depends on your contract. A clause that says „all overtime is covered by the gross salary” is invalid for ordinary employees (it has no upper limit and is therefore not transparent under § 307 BGB). A clause that says „up to 10 hours overtime per month is covered by the gross salary” can be valid. Everything above the covered amount must be paid or time-banked.
Since the BAG’s judgment of 13 September 2022 (1 ABR 22/21), employers are required to record working time. Where the employer has no proper records, the burden of proof in overtime disputes shifts — the employer can no longer require the employee to prove every minute, because the employer’s own duty to record was breached. This significantly improves the prospects of overtime claims that previously failed on evidentiary grounds.
What to do if the employer is insolvent
If the employer has filed for insolvency or is in financial distress, special rules apply. You may be entitled to insolvency wages (Insolvenzgeld) from the Agentur für Arbeit for up to three months of unpaid pre-insolvency salary. The application deadlines are tight — typically two months from the date the insolvency proceeding was opened. We help with the application alongside the normal wage claim against the insolvency estate.
When you can withhold work (Zurückbehaltungsrecht)
If significant arrears have built up (usually two or more months’ pay), you can refuse to perform further work until paid, under § 273 BGB. This must be communicated clearly in writing to the employer beforehand. The right is powerful but legally delicate — get advice before exercising it, because a poorly executed withholding can be reinterpreted as unauthorised absence.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to claim unpaid salary in Germany?
Most contracts give you only three months from the due date to assert the claim in writing (Ausschlussfrist). Without an Ausschlussklausel, the general three-year statute of limitations under § 195 BGB applies. Always check your contract.
Can my employer reduce my salary unilaterally?
No. Salary changes require either your express consent or a Änderungskündigung (change-termination) under § 2 KSchG, which itself is subject to dismissal-protection scrutiny.
What about bonus that the employer says is “discretionary”?
Even discretionary bonuses must be paid according to equitable consideration under § 315 BGB. A bonus of zero without justification is rarely lawful where the underlying conditions (target attainment, company profitability) were met.
What does an unpaid-salary case cost?
RVG-based fee from the Gegenstandswert (the claimed amount). For a typical €15,000 claim, your side costs roughly €1,500–€2,000 gross. With Rechtsschutzversicherung, you pay only the deductible. See Costs & Fees.