A survey of Chinese companies that have settled in Germany has shown that the large number of German laws and regulations is one of the biggest or even THE biggest difficulties. 

In Germany, employees and their jobs are subject to a variety of regulations, laws and practices. BE | LEGAL can guide you through this labyrinth of regulations. I help you identify the areas of compliance that you need to scrutinize as your business size and needs grow to make your business fit and avoid costly mistakes.

1. Are the employee data up-to-date? In general, there is a way to create and maintain employee data: Personnel files. All information contained therein is confidential, so keep this information in a safe place. Only certain employees should have access to these files. For more details and a list of what to include in each file, contact BE | LEGAL.
2. Do you have an employee manual? The Employee Handbook explains the policies and procedures of your business and communicates your expectations to employees. It also helps to protect your business in case of litigation.
3. Are you familiar with the rights of employees? Even if your small business does not have a works council, all employees have certain legal rights and claims. What do this keywords tell you: - prohibition of employment - professional association security - working or travel accident - computer workstation regulation You need to know what those rights are about, so you do not violate them and make yourself liable to prosecution.
4. Have you published the laws? There are a variety of so-called "notices" and laws that need to be posted in your organization.
5. Do you pay the minimum wage? The minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay an employee for work. The current minimum wage is 8.84 euros / hour in Germany.
6. Check the employment status? It is illegal to hire a person who is in the country without a work permit. As such, the identity and employability of each individual must be reviewed so as not to violate the law.
7. Are your job advertisements and interviews legal? Recruitment is an exciting part of your growing business. In the job advertisements you should pay attention to any wording that could be discriminatory and therefore violate the AGG. In the interviews, you should be sure that you understand which questions you are allowed to ask and which are not. For example, did you know that you can not ask questions that reveal a person's race, gender, religion, marital status, disabilities, ethnic background, country of origin, or age? Have you planned your questions to make sure you do not accidentally ask an illegal question?

BE | LEGAL law firm Beneke advises and supports you in these and many other legal relevant topics and navigates you safely in the right, legal direction. Just contact me anytime via Kerstin.Beneke@be-legal.de or via telephone +49(0)162 2707512. I look forward speaking to you.