Criminal labor law

Criminal labor law is a sub-matter of white-collar criminal law and covers labor market-related criminal and misdemeanor provisions in a variety of different laws.

Criminal labor law covers the sanctioning of misconduct by employers and employees that is directly related to the work context.

Sanctions are imposed, for example, for violations of the regulations on undeclared work, the employment of foreigners living illegally in Germany, employee leasing, employee secondment, 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, such as the Fiscal Code (AO), the Undeclared Employment Act (SchwarzArbG) or the Residence Act (AufenthG).

Especially with regard to administrative law, in the interest of the entrepreneur and the accused, various possible secondary consequences must be considered in addition to possible penal sanctions and fines. In this respect, the following possible consequences in particular must be included in the advice and defense: Prohibition of trade due to lack of reliability, entry in the central business register, entry in the corruption register, exclusion from competition.

Employers can be sanctioned not only by means of fines or even imprisonment, but also by civil and labor law. In addition, it is possible for a fine to be imposed on a company pursuant to Section 30 OWiG in the event of organizational culpability.

Preventive advice to employers can often prevent the initiation of preliminary proceedings. Criminal law risks can be minimized in particular by implementing a compliance system.

In addition to preventive advice, we support and defend employers, employees and companies in all criminal and administrative offence proceedings relating to the workplace.