Judgment of the Federal Labor Court: Minimum wage for foreign nurses

Nursing staff from abroad who look after patients in Germany are entitled to the minimum wage. That was decided by the Federal Labor Court. The ruling is likely to have massive consequences for home care.

According to estimates by trade unions and experts, there are likely to be hundreds of thousands of workers from abroad who look after, care for and support old people in Germany. To date, however, many of these foreign nurses have received very little money for their often indispensable work.

The Federal Labor Court has now put a stop to this practice in a landmark ruling: the judges ruled that foreign nursing and domestic helpers placed in Germany who look after the elderly in their homes are entitled to a minimum wage. This also applies to on-call times during which – mostly women from Eastern Europe – provide on-demand care.

A woman from Bulgaria complained, who claims to have looked after a senior citizen over 90 years old in her Berlin apartment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Her contract stipulated a working week of 30 hours. The amount of the back payment that the claimant has to receive from her Bulgarian company must now be re-examined by the Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labor Court.

Warning of maintenance collapse

Industry associations now fear that the ruling could overburden many financially who are currently taking advantage of the comparatively cheap care from abroad: “As understandable as the decision is. The ruling triggers a tsunami for everyone who depends on the support of foreign carers at home are “, explained Eugen Brysch, board member at the German Foundation for Patient Protection. “If we didn’t have foreign nurses, home care would have collapsed.” The president of the social association VdK, Verena Bentele, even spoke of an “Armageddon” for home care after the verdict against the Funke media group.

Unsustainable working conditions

The Verdi union, of which the plaintiff is a member, and the left parliamentary group welcomed the verdict and criticized the sometimes “exploitative conditions” in the industry. “It is shameful that many people in need of care and their families in our country have to fall back on so-called 24-hour care because the official system does not offer sufficient support,” said Verdi Federal Board Member Sylvia Bühler. “The model of having women mostly from Eastern European countries live and work in the household of the person in need so that they can always fall back on someone is based on a systematic breach of the law.”

It is not uncommon for intermediaries to advertise families seeking help in Germany with the promise of 24-hour care – usually for little money. The clients in Germany then usually pay to the companies in the helpers’ countries of origin, mainly from Bulgaria, Romania, Poland or the Ukraine.

(Az: 5 AZR 505/20)