Marginal employment

Marginal employment (so-called "mini-job")

In principle, marginally employed workers are employees, just like all other employees. This means that they have the same rights, such as the right to holiday, the right to continued payment in the event of illness, the right to participate in works council elections, the right to receive the minimum wage and, above all, the right to comply with the rules on protection against dismissal. However, certain special features and restrictions must also be observed in the case of marginally employed workers.

Holiday entitlements and continued payment of remuneration for marginally employed persons

The question often arises as to whether a marginally employed person has any holiday entitlement or entitlement to continued remuneration. Of course, marginally employed workers are also entitled to these entitlements.

Of course, everyone in an employment relationship is entitled to their statutory annual leave.

As already described above, part-time employees can also claim holiday. The employer cannot exclude this entitlement. These employees are also entitled to pro rata leave for each full month worked during the first six months. After six months, the full holiday entitlement applies.

The difference to full-time employees, however, is that the marginally employed person is not employed to the same extent.

The statutory minimum holiday entitlement provides for an entitlement to at least 24 working days per year. The law is based on a 6-day week (Monday to Saturday). The minimum holiday entitlement is therefore reduced proportionately for part-time employees. The minimum holiday entitlement is therefore 20 days if the employee only works 5 days a week, 16 days if the employee only works 4 days a week, etc. The decisive factor is not the number of hours per week, but the number of days the employee works per week. A marginally employed person who works 2 hours per week from Monday to Saturday is therefore also entitled to 24 working days' holiday.

The entitlement to continued payment of remuneration in the event of illness arises after four weeks of employment. The employer must pay the marginally employed person the remuneration they would have earned if they had not become unfit for work.

Protection against dismissal for marginal employees

The general protection against dismissal also applies here. This means that if the Dismissal Protection Act applies, dismissals for personal reasons (e.g. illness, lack of qualifications), behavioural reasons (e.g. gross misconduct on the part of the employee) and operational reasons (e.g. closure of the business) are permissible.

During the probationary period, the contract may not be terminated with a shorter notice period than 2 weeks, otherwise only in accordance with the statutory notice periods of at least 4 weeks.

The special feature of marginally employed persons is that it is known that these groups of persons have a different insurance status. The employer is obliged to report these persons to the Federal Miners' Insurance Association and to pay the pension insurance contributions to them. However, the amount up to EUR 450.00 remains free of deduction for the employee.