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Jörg Hen­nig

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Ani­ka Nadler

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AÜG-License audit procedure of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit)

An AÜG audit in Ger­many by the Fed­er­al Employ­ment Agency (Bun­de­sagen­tur für Arbeit) can put your labour leas­ing busi­ness under close scruti­ny. The author­i­ty checks whether your com­pa­ny com­plies with the Ger­man Tem­po­rary Employ­ment Act (AÜG) and ful­fils its oblig­a­tions as an employ­er and licence hold­er.

The review may cov­er employ­ment con­tracts, pay­roll, work­ing-time records and assign­ments to client com­pa­nies. Defi­cien­cies can lead to fur­ther enquiries, cor­rec­tive mea­sures or, in seri­ous cas­es, jeop­ar­dise your AÜG licence.

AMETHYST Recht­san­wälte helps labour leas­ing com­pa­nies pre­pare for AÜG audits, iden­ti­fy com­pli­ance risks and respond effec­tive­ly to the licens­ing authority.

Don’t Let Compliance Gaps Put Your AÜG Licence at Risk

An audit may take place in con­nec­tion with a licence renew­al or an appli­ca­tion for an unlim­it­ed licence. The author­i­ty may also ini­ti­ate a review fol­low­ing com­plaints or indi­ca­tions of non-com­pli­ance. How­ev­er, an on-site inspec­tion doesn’t always take place.

The key ques­tion is whether your busi­ness oper­ates law­ful­ly in prac­tice — not sim­ply whether it holds a valid licence. Reg­u­lar com­pli­ance reviews can help iden­ti­fy weak­ness­es before they become a licens­ing issue.

Experienced Legal Support for AÜG Audits

An AÜG audit can have sig­nif­i­cant impli­ca­tions for your busi­ness and your licence. AMETHYST Recht­san­wälte com­bines spe­cialised exper­tise in labour leas­ing law with expe­ri­ence gained from over 1,000 AÜG cas­es and more than 25 years of pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence. We help com­pa­nies pre­pare for inspec­tions, iden­ti­fy com­pli­ance risks and respond effec­tive­ly to ques­tions or find­ings raised by the Fed­er­al Employ­ment Agency.

What Inspectors Look For — and Where Problems Often Start

The scope of an audit depends on the indi­vid­ual busi­ness. The review may focus on sev­er­al con­nect­ed areas:

• Pay and equal treat­ment: Cor­rect wage clas­si­fi­ca­tion, applic­a­ble col­lec­tive agree­ments, equal-pay require­ments, min­i­mum wages and indus­try-spe­cif­ic supplements.
• Pay­roll and employ­ment oblig­a­tions: Cor­rect pay­ment dur­ing sick­ness, hol­i­days and peri­ods with­out an assign­ment, as well as prop­er social-secu­ri­ty con­tri­bu­tions and wage-tax treatment.
• Work­ing hours and assign­ments: Accu­rate time records, law­ful work­ing-time accounts and com­pli­ance with the max­i­mum assign­ment period.
• Con­tracts and doc­u­men­ta­tion: Employ­ment con­tracts, staff leas­ing agree­ments, amend­ments, employ­ee infor­ma­tion and records describ­ing the actu­al work performed.
• Per­son­nel assign­ments out­side labour leas­ing: Whether arrange­ments described as ser­vice con­tracts (Dien­stverträge) or con­tracts to pro­duce a work (Werkverträge) are cor­rect­ly clas­si­fied in practice.
• For­eign employ­ees: Com­pli­ance with applic­a­ble res­i­dence and work requirements.

These areas are close­ly con­nect­ed. For exam­ple, an unclear descrip­tion of an employee’s duties may affect wage clas­si­fi­ca­tion, while incon­sis­tent con­tracts and pay­roll records can raise wider com­pli­ance concerns.

For details, see our guides to Equal Treat­ment and Equal Pay in Ger­man Labour Leas­ing and the Distinc­tion Between Labour Leas­ing, Ser­vice Con­tracts and Con­tracts to Pro­duce a Work.

Be Audit-Ready Before the Authority Asks

Prepar­ing doc­u­ments at short notice can expose gaps and cre­ate unnec­es­sary pres­sure. Your com­pa­ny should be able to retrieve con­sis­tent, up-to-date records and explain how its staff leas­ing arrange­ments work.

Depend­ing on the scope of the audit, key doc­u­ments may include:

• Employ­ment con­tracts and labour leas­ing agreements
• Pay­roll records and work­ing-time accounts
• Evi­dence of vaca­tion, sick­ness and remu­ner­a­tion dur­ing non-assignment
• Col­lec­tive agree­ments and wage-group classifications
• Records of employ­ee duties and assignments
• Social-secu­ri­ty and wage-tax documentation
• Evi­dence of com­pli­ance with assign­ment lim­its and employ­ee infor­ma­tion requirements

A doc­u­ment review should go beyond check­ing whether files exist. Con­tracts, pay­roll, per­son­nel records and actu­al busi­ness prac­tices must fit togeth­er. Our lawyers help iden­ti­fy incon­sis­ten­cies and assess whether cor­rec­tive action is needed.

Audit Findings? Respond Strategically, Not Reactively

An adverse find­ing does not auto­mat­i­cal­ly mean that your AÜG licence will be revoked. The con­se­quences depend on the nature and seri­ous­ness of the issue and the applic­a­ble legal requirements.

The author­i­ty may request fur­ther infor­ma­tion, require cor­rec­tive action or ini­ti­ate admin­is­tra­tive pro­ceed­ings. Seri­ous com­pli­ance defi­cien­cies may affect the licence itself.

A prompt, com­plete and legal­ly sound response is there­fore impor­tant. If the author­i­ty is con­sid­er­ing refus­ing, not renew­ing or revok­ing your licence, see our guide to AÜG Licence Denial and Revo­ca­tion in Ger­many.

Legal Support That Goes Beyond the Paperwork

AMETHYST Recht­san­wälte advis­es staff leas­ing com­pa­nies on AÜG audits and ongo­ing com­pli­ance. We can help you:

• Review employ­ment and labour leas­ing con­tracts
• Assess pay, wage clas­si­fi­ca­tions and equal-treat­ment oblig­a­tions
• Check work­ing-time arrange­ments and assign­ment limits
• Iden­ti­fy incon­sis­ten­cies in pay­roll and per­son­nel documentation
• Assess ser­vice-con­tract and Werkver­trag struc­tures
• Pre­pare for inspec­tions and respond to the authority
• Address find­ings that may put your licence at risk

Our aim is to help you build a con­sis­tent com­pli­ance posi­tion — not mere­ly assem­ble doc­u­ments for an inspection.

Protect Your Licence. Strengthen Your Compliance.

Whether a review is approach­ing or you want to reduce risk before the author­i­ty gets involved, ear­ly legal advice can help you iden­ti­fy weak­ness­es and deter­mine the right next steps.

Con­tact AMETHYST Recht­san­wälte to dis­cuss your AÜG audit in Ger­many or arrange a com­pli­ance review.

In Detail: Scope of the Audit

The ver­i­fi­ca­tion pro­ce­dure of the Fed­er­al Employ­ment agency focus­es on the fol­low­ing parameters:

• Appli­ca­tion of col­lec­tive agree­ments with­in the mean­ing of sec. 8 (2) of the Ger­man labor leas­ing act (AÜG, Arbeit­nehmerüber­las­sungs­ge­setz), (includ­ing col­lec­tive agree­ments on indus­try sur­charges); read more about col­lec­tive agree­ments and about indus­try surcharges
• Grant­i­ng of equal pay after nine months
• If no col­lec­tive agree­ments apply: Com­pli­ance with the prin­ci­ple of equal treat­ment accord­ing to sec. 8  (1) AÜG (read more…)
• Cor­rect clas­si­fi­ca­tion of the tem­po­rary employ­ee in the cor­rect wage group accord­ing to their actu­al activ­i­ty (read more about ser­vice con­tracts & pro­duce work and about con­trast to oth­er forms of con­tract)
• Pay­ment of min­i­mum wages includ­ing min­i­mum wage lev­els for labour leasing 
• Reim­burse­ment of expens­es (espe­cial­ly meal allowances)
• Com­plete­ness of con­tract doc­u­ments (employ­ment con­tracts, addi­tion­al agree­ments, ter­mi­na­tion agree­ments, tem­po­rary employ­ment con­tracts, amendments)
• Proof of hand­ing over the up-to-date infor­ma­tion leaflet of the Fed­er­al Employ­ment Agency
• Com­pli­ance with the pro­vi­sions of the Law on Part-time Work and Fixed-term Employ­ment Con­tracts (TzBfG, Gesetz über Teilzeitar­beit und befris­tete Arbeitsverträge)
• Cor­rect pay­ment of wages/granting of ben­e­fits in lieu of income and leave or leave com­pen­sa­tion even dur­ing peri­ods of non-assign­ment (guar­an­teed wage) (read more on equal treat­ment and equal pay)
• Indi­ca­tions of irreg­u­lar­i­ty with regard to occu­pa­tion­al health and safety/occupational med­ical examinations
• Pay­ment of social secu­ri­ty con­tri­bu­tions in all branch­es of social security
• Pay­ment of wage tax
• Com­pli­ance with the pro­vi­sions for the employ­ment of for­eign nation­als (read more on rea­sons for denial or revo­ca­tion of an AÜG licence)
• Com­pli­ance with the max­i­mum time lim­it for the assign­ment of tem­po­rary employees
• Com­pli­ance with the dis­clo­sure and con­creti­sa­tion obligation
• Com­pli­ance with the infor­ma­tion obligation