Employment Criminal Law

Employment criminal law is a sub-discipline of white-collar criminal law. It encompasses labor market-related criminal and administrative offense regulations across a variety of different laws.

Employment criminal law covers the sanctioning of misconduct by employers and employees that is directly related to the workplace context.

Employment criminal law sanctions violations such as regulations on undeclared work, the employment of foreigners living illegally in Germany, temporary employment, the posting of workers, and the withholding and embezzlement of wages. Relevant regulations are found not only in the Criminal Code but also in labor, social, administrative, and tax law provisions, such as the Fiscal Code (AO), the Undeclared Work Act (SchwarzArbG), or the Residence Act (AufenthG).

Far-reaching consequences of violations in employment criminal law

Particularly from an administrative law perspective, a wide range of possible collateral consequences must be considered in the interest of the entrepreneur and the accused, in addition to potential criminal and fine-related sanctions. In this respect, the following possible consequences in particular must be included in the consultation and defense in employment criminal law: business prohibition due to lack of reliability, entry in the Central Federal Register of Trade and Industrial Loans, entry in the corruption register, and exclusion from competition.

Employers can be sanctioned not only by means of fines or even imprisonment but also under civil and employment contract law. In addition, there is the possibility that a fine may be imposed on a company in accordance with Section 30 of the Act on Regulatory Offenses (OWiG) if there is evidence of organizational fault.

Preventing damage through proactive legal advice in employment criminal law

Proactive legal advice for employers can often prevent the initiation of investigative proceedings. In particular, criminal law risks can be minimized with the help of implementing a compliance system.

In addition to proactive legal advice, we support and defend employers, employees, and companies in all criminal and administrative offense proceedings related to the workplace.