Counselling and information services
The German Trade Union Confederation's "Fair Mobility" counselling and information service has been operating on the basis of the Posted Workers Act since 1 January 2021. Previously, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs had been funding the counselling service as a project for ten years.
The aim is to ensure that the free movement and mobility of workers in the EU is fair. For it to be fair, workers must know their rights in Germany and be able to exercise them in practice. The counselling network "Fair Mobility" is working for fair wages and better working conditions for this target group.
"Fair Mobility" provides information, advice and support for EU workers on social and labour law issues (including wages, working hours, termination, etc.) in their own language. The counselling centres of "Fair Mobility" are represented at thirteen locations around the country (Kiel, Oldenburg, Dortmund, Berlin, Frankfurt a.M., Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Erfurt, Grünheide, Rheda-Wiedenbrück and Freiburg im Breisgau). Counselling is offered through outreach counselling as well as by phone, email and nationwide campaigns. Multilingual information is made available and disseminated via the website, social media and other informational materials.
Many Länder have also set up information and counselling centres for mobile workers from EU Member States in recent years. Those counselling centres with federal funding and those funded by the Länder work closely together to ensure that the counselling they provide is as comprehensive as possible and of the highest possible quality.
Information and reporting requirements for employers and intermediaries
Since 1 August 2022, section 23c of the Posted Workers Act has been in force, which imposes information requirements on domestic employers who hire an EU citizen in Germany who is resident or ordinarily resident in another Member State. At the latest on the first day of work, workers must be informed in writing, in a language they can understand, of the current information and counselling services offered by "Fair Mobility" and the current contact details of the counselling centre must be provided. This includes pointing out the free counselling service on social and labour law issues, which is independent of trade union membership. In terms of contact data, at least the e-mail address of "Fair Mobility" and the telephone numbers of the hotline of the counselling service in different languages are to be provided.
Implementation of section 23c of the Posted Workers Act (sample text)
Comparable information obligations may also exist for employment intermediaries under section 299 of the Third Book of the Social Code. In these cases, employers are not required to provide information under section 23c of the Posted Workers Act.
Counselling services for third-country nationals
A similar counselling service also exists for employees from non-EU countries (third-country nationals) and for refugees and persons whose deportation has been temporarily suspended. The project Fair Integration (faire-integration.de) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and runs counselling centres in all 16 Länder.