German employers get creative to skirt new minimum wage(2)

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Last week a survey by pollster Infratest dimap showed 15 percent of Germans had heard about employers sidestepping the minimum wage from friends and family. Some 3 percent said they were directly affected.

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Among them is 66-year-old Juergen Schluens, who used to earn around 6.30 euros per hour delivering papers in the village of Witzwort close to the North Sea.

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Once the new wage law took effect, he says his boss reduced the premium he received for starting work at 4.45 a.m. and demanded that he get the job done in half the time.

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"The minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour was paid on paper but my boss said I could only take 52 minutes to do my round," he told Reuters. "I needed about 94 minutes -- and I should know as I've been doing the job for nearly 11 years."

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He wrote a note of complaint to his boss and says his contract was subsequently terminated without notice, prompting him to take his employer to court. Schluens' employer did not respond to a request for comment.

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Unions report cases of bakeries, a solarium and a gym giving staff coupons to use on site rather than paying the minimum wage. A baker who refused such an offer was told to give the vouchers to her husband, the NGG said.

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Other workers have had their holiday entitlement reduced or premiums for working nights, holidays and Sundays slashed.

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Firms breaking the law face fines of up to 500,000 euros.

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But it's not bad news for everyone. Uwe Schlegel, a Cologne lawyer, advises small firms on how to get around the minimum wage legally. Demand for his services is "extremely high".

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