Accommodation for foreign workers in Germany and what may be deducted

Where an employer provides accommodation, Annex 4.4 of the German Workplaces Ordinance applies: beds, cupboards, tables and chairs, an eating area, sanitary facilities and a documentation duty. Where the value is deducted from pay, social security law values the accommodation at 285 euro a month.

Housing is therefore not a footnote to the hire but a regulated matter with its own supervision. It is checked by the occupational safety authority, and the amount deducted is checked by the customs undeclared work unit in connection with the minimum wage.

What the Workplaces Ordinance actually requires

The duty applies where the workplace is remote or the nature of the work calls for it. The employer must then provide adequate accommodation. The annex names the equipment in three groups: a living and sleeping area with beds, cupboards, tables and chairs, an eating area, and sanitary facilities. Where men and women share accommodation, that has to be taken into account in allocating the rooms.

The part missed in practice is the documentation. The employer must document the accommodation, including the addresses, the capacities, which workers are housed where, and the length of stay. That documentation must be kept for four weeks after the accommodation ends. Companies that house workers through a subcontractor or rent rooms at short notice rarely keep that list, and its absence is the first finding in an inspection.

Figures for floor area or beds per room do not appear in the ordinance text. Those values sit in the Technical Rules for Workplaces, which give the ordinance its detail. For planning purposes that means anyone quoting a square metre figure should name the rule it comes from rather than the ordinance.

What may be taken off the wage

Two provisions run in parallel here and both must be satisfied.

Section 107 subsection 2 of the Trade Regulation Act permits benefits in kind as part of pay where this corresponds to the interest of the employee or the nature of the employment relationship. The value of the agreed benefits in kind may not exceed the attachable portion of the wage. The same section carries the prohibition on truck: goods may not be supplied to the employee on credit and may only be charged at cost.

Section 2 of the Social Security Remuneration Ordinance sets the value of accommodation provided as a benefit in kind at 285 euro a month, and for shorter periods at one thirtieth of that per day, which is 9.50 euro. For meals the same provision names 345 euro a month, split into 71 euro for breakfast and 137 euro each for lunch and dinner.

The error that turns housing into a minimum wage breach

The usual sequence looks harmless. A company rents a house for twelve workers, divides the rent by twelve and deducts the share from pay. If that share exceeds the attachable portion of the wage, the agreement is ineffective to that extent, and the net amount paid out falls below the minimum wage. Customs then recalculates the hourly rate rather than the rent, and the penalty provision in the Minimum Wage Act reaches 500,000 euro.

The second common error is to confuse value with price. The 285 euro in the Social Security Remuneration Ordinance is a valuation standard for a benefit in kind, not permission to withhold any sum at all. An employer providing genuinely more expensive housing either carries the difference or agrees a separate tenancy outside the wage, with everything a tenancy brings with it.

The third error concerns the chain. Where workers are housed through a subcontractor, the duty under the Workplaces Ordinance stays with their own employer, and the documentation must be kept where the employment contract sits. What the customs undeclared work unit checks in this context is set out in customs inspections for undeclared work. For seasonal crews the time limits described in seasonal employment in Germany apply on top, and address registration is one of the steps in the residence permit steps after entry.

Accommodation is the line item that most often moves a costing, because it is planned as a benefit and audited as part of pay. How Werklist documents occupancy per worker and ties it to the employment contract is set out on our employers page.