Companies taking advantage of foreign employees

I am an American who has been working in Germany for the past 2 years. I have had many problems with the company I work for and wanted to both ask if others had this problem and warn others so they will not make the same mistake in the future.

I came here without knowing anything about the german working system. The company used this to their advantage and gave me a US contract, even though I have never worked a single day for the company in America. In doing this, they paid me less than the others (I recieve my money in dollars), and took away all my rights as a german worker.

Under german law, if you have an unbefristet contract you cannot be fired unless the company will not hire anyone to replace you (ie-they dont need the job anymore) or unless they can prove that you are incompetant. Under German law you are required to pay into the Sozialkasse, which gives you unemployment insurance, healthcare, pension, etc. The economy got bad and since I had an american contract, the company was able to fire me when there were other workers in the same position whose performance was lower whom they couldnt not fire. This is not what is so bad though. Since I never paid into the German sozialkasse, I have no rights to stay in germany, and have no health insurance, no unemployment money, and no legal recourse against the company. Had I had a german contract and had I paid into the Sozialkasse, I would have been guarenteed these rights by law.

The company used a loophole since I was a foreigner who didnt know better. they hired me as an expat. As an expat, you lose every right as a german worker. I have just spent over 1 year in court fighting the company (I cannot be an expat if I never worked in the US for this company...I am a german worker). I finally won, but all this was not worth the trouble. This is as a warning to anyone who is searching for work in germany: only take a job if you are offered a german contract and get the same rights as a german worker. Familarize yourself with the laws before signing anything. The working laws and conditions in the US are 19. century compared to those in Europe and Germany. Companies have been trying to use the trick of giving foreigners expat contracts and/or not paying into the german sozialkasse when they hire foreign employees. This is illegal and unjust! Dont let the same thing happen to you as it did to me!

Can you tell me the name of the company?

BMW tried to do a similar thing to be but the other way round. When setting up our Rolls-Royce Motor Cars factory in England, they were sending Germans over on ex-pat contacts. When it came o me they said , no we want you to go on a local contract. I had been thinking about going back anyway and said I would go if i got a 1 year ex-pat contract to sort things ut over there and then change to a local contract after but only if i was no worse off than now.

The whole thing took longer than expected due to problems with planning permission and I stayed a year longer here. When it cam e to going over they conveniently forgot about the 1-year ex-pat contract (saying there was no way I could be given one cos it was against BMW policy to give ex-pat ontacts to people to go back to their home country) and said I would have to take a local contract. I waited for a written offer for a further 3 months before making my decison. When it finally came thru (about 3 weeks before I was supposed to go) it ended up being about a 45% pay cut, not to mention the higher cost of living in Chichester (rent for example was £650 pm compared to €700 that i was paying here).

So naturally I was shocked and told them to get stuffed. They ended up sending me there on a short-term asignment (still with the excuse that the rules prevented me from getting an ex-pat contract) which meant i got an aparrtment paid for me, flights every weeek, daily allowance but still payed in Germany. It ended up costing them a fortune. ANd while i was there I met TWO other people with British Citizenship that had been given ex-pat contracts to wok there! B***ards!

Anyway motto of my little story: even "reputable" companies will try and screw you if they can away with it, so i am not surprised that something like that happened to you, IPP888

Yes what BMW did to you was very similar. The company (CLAAS) told me that it was difficult for a non EU citizen to get a visa (a huge lie), so they would set me up on an ex-pat contract because this would guarentee me a visa. This was my first job out of the univeristy and I didnt know how things in Germany worked. They told me that after the initial 24 months I would recieve a permanent job in Germany and a german contract. I was accepted with the understanding that I would pay into the german Sozialkasse (so would have health insurance, unemployment, etc), but they set it up where I paid into US Social Security since I was an 'ex-pat'. I argued with them about it, but made no big issue because I was still believing what they said about getting a german contract after my training was done (no reason to rock the boat).

So last October they told me (word for word): 'The company is doing bad and we have to lay off 10% of the workers. There are no jobs for you in Germany. You have a different contract from everyone else who is doing the training, so they can stay on until a job is available, but your only option is to return to the US and work.' It all came to a head, and I told them since my first interview I had no desire to return to the US and that my intention was to immigrate to Germany forever (become a citizen). So then they told me this (word for word): 'Your visa depends on us. You have no right to health insurance or unemployment here since you didnt pay into the Sozialkasse. You can stay here and live on the street until the government deports you, or you can take a good job with us in the US office.' I told them I would rather live on the street here than go back and work for them in the US.

So that is when I went to the German government and US government and tried to force the company to pay all the back taxes. They had filled out an exemption form that said I had to pay into US social security because I was an 'expat'. Well after months of dealing with the US government (imagine how difficult it is to go to the government and tell them you never want to return to the US and that you want all your tax money back!) they finally cancelled the exemption form, forcing the company to pay 2 years worth of back taxes into the Sozialkasse. This meant I had insurance and unemployment money, but no job.

So I looked for over a year (the economy is terrible at the moment) and no one will hire you if you need a work permit and there is 11% unemployment, so 1 year later I am facing deportion aganin. For this reason, I took a job in the UK (naturally under a british contract!).

The story was to let people know that the companies are interested in the bottom line and will try to save as much money as possible, and this usually means paying foreigners less and giving them foreign contracts (think about how US companies treat people from Latin America). I wanted to warn other people about this so that they might avoid the same situation as me. Get everthing in writing and under NO circumstances should you work under an expat contract unless you do indeed intend to return to your home country after a short time.

Hey Olain -
So you were working at RR? I have a bunch of American friends working up there - Carrie and James Cline(from Greenville) and Chris McCune(who is not from Greenville, but from Boston - like me). It's a small world.

By the way, I'm American, working here for a company on a regular German contract.

Sounds like a nasty experience, but it can happen in any country.

On the flip side, I once knew a Brit working for a German company in the UK, and he had a German contract. Took them three months to get rid of him...