From 1 January 2026, the statutory minimum wage in Germany is €13.90 gross per hour — and under § 3 MiLoG this claim cannot be waived, cannot be forfeited under contractual deadline clauses, and applies regardless of what your contract says. A further step to €14.60 has been announced for 1 January 2027 (subject to the implementing ordinance). For employees the practical questions are: does it apply to me, which pay components count toward it, and how do I recover a shortfall — often years back.
The legal framework
The Mindestlohngesetz (MiLoG) sets a universal wage floor for employees working in Germany. It applies irrespective of nationality, of the language of the contract, and of where the employer is established — a foreign employer whose employee physically works in Germany owes the German minimum wage for those hours (§ 20 MiLoG). The rate is adjusted on the Mindestlohnkommission’s recommendation and enacted by ordinance; €13.90 applies from the start of 2026, €14.60 is scheduled as the next step.
Who is covered — and who is not
Covered: essentially all employees aged 18 or over, including part-time employees, fixed-term employees, temporary workers and minijobbers. Excluded or partly excluded under § 22 MiLoG:
- Apprentices (Auszubildende): vocational training is not employment under MiLoG; apprentices instead have a separate statutory minimum training allowance.
- Mandatory interns: internships required by a school, university or training regulation are exempt regardless of length.
- Voluntary orientation interns: voluntary internships of up to three months for orientation, or accompanying studies/training, are exempt. If a voluntary internship exceeds three months, the minimum wage applies — on the prevailing view from the first day, not just from month four.
- Long-term unemployed: persons who were unemployed for twelve months or more can be paid below the minimum wage during the first six months of a new job.
- Under-18s without completed vocational training, and genuine volunteers.
Labels don’t decide: if a so-called „internship” or „working student project” is in substance regular work, you are an employee with full entitlement.
What counts toward the €13.90 — and what doesn’t
The check is simple in structure: take all payments that remunerate your normal contractual work in the month, divide by the hours actually worked, and compare with €13.90. Under the case law of the BAG:
- Counted: base salary; fixed monthly allowances paid unconditionally for normal work (e.g. a flat „performance allowance” paid every month); Christmas or holiday money only if it is paid out irrevocably in monthly instalments.
- Not counted: premium components that compensate something beyond normal work — overtime premiums, statutory night-work surcharges under § 6(5) ArbZG, typically Sunday/holiday surcharges with genuine premium character; expense reimbursements; employer social-security contributions; contributions to company pensions; tips (they come from customers, not the employer); one-off annual payments in the months they don’t cover.
For salaried employees the trap is hours, not the rate. A flat monthly salary satisfies the minimum wage only if salary ÷ actual hours ≥ €13.90. At 40 contractual hours per week, the floor is roughly €2,409 gross per month (13.90 × 173.33). Unpaid overtime pushes the effective hourly rate down — a salaried worker on €2,500 who actually works 50-hour weeks is below the floor. „All overtime is included in the salary” clauses cannot undercut MiLoG; on this mechanism see overtime pay.
The wage is due, at the latest, by the end of the month following the month worked (§ 2 MiLoG); working-time accounts may defer only limited portions under strict conditions. Chronic deferral is itself a violation — see late salary.
The minijob connection: €603 per month
The minijob earnings threshold (Geringfügigkeitsgrenze) is dynamically tied to the minimum wage: it equals ten weekly hours at minimum wage, which produces €603 per month at €13.90. Consequences: at the minimum rate, minijob status ends at about 43 hours per month, and every increase automatically raises the threshold. Minijobbers are fully covered by MiLoG — flat pay „for whatever hours are needed” collapses as soon as the hours are counted. Details in minijob rules.
§ 3 MiLoG: the claim you cannot lose
Minimum-wage claims enjoy protection that almost no other pay claim has. Under § 3 MiLoG, agreements that undercut or restrict the minimum wage are invalid; a waiver is possible only in a court-approved settlement; and forfeiture (Verwirkung) is excluded. The BAG has drawn the practical consequence: contractual and collective Ausschlussfristen do not extinguish the minimum-wage portion of a pay claim. Where a normal wage claim dies after three months under a forfeiture clause, the €13.90-per-hour core survives — only the three-year limitation of § 195 BGB applies. Above-minimum components still forfeit, so act fast anyway; see Ausschlussfrist.
Records, enforcement and back pay
For minijobs and for sectors prone to abuse (construction, hospitality, logistics, cleaning and others listed in § 2a SchwarzArbG), employers must record daily working time within seven days and keep the records for two years (§ 17 MiLoG). Customs enforces; violations carry fines of up to €500,000.
For the employee, enforcement is a civil claim: hours actually worked × €13.90 (or the rate applicable to the period), minus what was paid, claimed before the Arbeitsgericht. Your own contemporaneous hour records are admissible and often decisive — courts may estimate where the employer kept none.
How to claim a shortfall
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Reconstruct your hours
Collect duty rosters, shift plans, time-clock data, work chats and your own daily notes. Build a month-by-month table: hours worked, gross paid, effective hourly rate.
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Assert the difference in writing
A dated text-form demand stating period, hours, rate and amount. This also preserves any above-minimum components against forfeiture clauses.
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Watch retaliation — it's prohibited
Dismissal or disadvantage because you claimed the minimum wage violates the Maßregelungsverbot (§ 612a BGB) and can make a dismissal invalid.
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Sue at the Arbeitsgericht
Minimum-wage back-pay claims are standard wage litigation; many settle at the Gütetermin. A parallel tip-off to customs is possible but not required for your civil claim.
Sector minimum wages above the MiLoG floor
Several industries have binding sector minimum wages above €13.90 under the AEntG or the AÜG — construction trades, care work (Pflege), industrial cleaning, temporary agency work. They bind every employer in the sector, whether or not it is party to the collective agreement. If you work in one, your floor is the sector rate — check the applicable Tarifvertrag before calculating back pay.
Worked example
A hotel housekeeper in Cologne is paid a flat €2,100 gross per month „for full-time work”. Her contract says 40 hours; the duty rosters and her own notes show she actually works about 48 hours per week — roughly 208 hours per month.
- Effective hourly rate: €2,100 ÷ 208 ≈ €10.10 — far below €13.90.
- Minimum entitlement: 208 × €13.90 ≈ €2,891 per month.
- Monthly shortfall: ≈ €791; over twelve months ≈ €9,490.
Her contract contains a three-month Ausschlussfrist and she signed an „all claims settled” declaration when leaving. Neither destroys the MiLoG core: up to three years remain claimable at the rates then in force. The employer’s missing § 17 MiLoG records weaken its defence on the hours; such cases typically settle for most of the calculated shortfall.
Frequently asked questions
My contract says €12.50 per hour. Is the contract void?
The contract stands, but the rate is automatically replaced by the statutory minimum. You are entitled to €13.90 for every hour from 1 January 2026 onward without renegotiating anything — and to back pay for any undercut period within the three-year limitation.
Do tips count toward the minimum wage?
No. Tips are payments from third parties. The employer must pay €13.90 per hour itself; „low base plus tips” arrangements below the floor are unlawful.
I’m salaried with an „overtime included” clause. Can I still be under the minimum wage?
Yes — that is exactly where it happens. Divide your monthly gross by your actual hours. If the result is below €13.90, the clause cannot save the employer; the difference is owed. Above the floor, the clause’s validity is a separate question worth checking.
I’m an intern. Am I entitled to €13.90?
Mandatory internships and voluntary orientation internships up to three months are exempt; longer voluntary internships trigger the minimum wage — and a fake „internship” that is really ordinary work carries full entitlement whatever the label.
I was long-term unemployed before this job. Can my employer really pay less?
For the first six months of the employment, yes — § 22(4) MiLoG permits it if you were registered unemployed for at least twelve months immediately before. From month seven, the full minimum wage applies automatically.
Can I be dismissed for demanding the minimum wage?
A dismissal in retaliation for asserting your rights violates § 612a BGB and is invalid — but you must challenge it within three weeks by Kündigungsschutzklage. Keep the paper trail; it doubles as retaliation evidence.