German Employers Face New Pay Disclosure Rules as EU Deadline Passes Without National Law

Since June 8, 2026, German public-sector employers must reveal starting salaries during the hiring process — and they are no longer allowed to ask candidates about their previous pay. The change comes not from a new domestic statute but from the direct legal effect of the European Union’s Pay Transparency Directive, whose transposition deadline expired the day before without a German implementing law.

The shift is one of several recent developments from Germany’s Federal Labor Court (BAG), which marked the 20th anniversary of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) by publishing a bundle of landmark rulings. Since the AGG took effect on August 18, 2006, the court’s senates have resolved a raft of fundamental questions on age, religion and gender discrimination. Case law is now largely settled, but fresh EU directives and ongoing judgments continue to demand constant vigilance from businesses.

Salary comparisons as evidence

A separate BAG ruling from October 2025 already tightened the screws on wage transparency. The 8th Senate held that a single comparison with a colleague of the opposite sex doing comparable work can suffice as circumstantial evidence of unequal pay. Employers now face a lower bar for employees to establish a prima facie case of pay discrimination.

On the age front, the court has drawn both permissive and restrictive lines. In a late-2021 decision, the 1st Senate allowed severance payments in social plans to be lower for older workers, provided the reduction cushions their transition into retirement. The 2nd Senate in 2009 similarly justified taking age into account in selecting workers for operational dismissals.

But the BAG has also struck down blunt age-based rules. The 6th Senate in late 2011 invalidated the practice of calculating base pay according to age, as had been common under the federal public-sector collective agreement. The 4th Senate in late 2015 threw out fixed age caps for pilots in collective agreements. And in March 2025, the court clarified that compensation awards for discrimination cannot be counted as countable assets when deciding whether a plaintiff qualifies for legal aid.

Religious employers and mass layoffs

The AGG’s application to church-affiliated employers remains contested. On March 17, 2026, the European Court of Justice ruled that Caritas cannot dismiss an employee solely for leaving the church, unless religious affiliation is an essential and legitimate occupational requirement for the specific role.

The BAG itself had already strengthened protections for same-sex partners. In early 2009, the 3rd Senate extended company pension survivor benefits to registered life partners. And in early 2019, the court struck down “late marriage” clauses that exclude pension claims for marriages after a certain age.

New rules also govern mass layoffs. On June 25, 2026, the BAG held that minor numerical errors in a mass-dismissal notification do not automatically invalidate the terminations, as long as the purpose of the notification procedure remains intact. That nuance refines an earlier March 2026 decision, in which the court ruled that a fully missing or improper notification renders dismissals void — retroactive correction is impossible.

Reform momentum and health-care extension

The real-world weight of anti-discrimination law is reflected in the federal Anti-Discrimination Agency’s 2025 statistics: more than 13,000 counseling requests arrived that year, concentrated on racism, disability and gender. Broad AGG reform is now being debated, including longer filing deadlines and stronger support for complainants. Several German states are simultaneously drafting their own anti-discrimination laws to extend protection beyond the workplace.

One frontier case may expand AGG coverage into medical treatment. In May 2026, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) began hearing whether the AGG applies to doctor-patient treatment contracts. The case stems from a rehabilitation clinic that refused to admit a blind patient. The outcome could fundamentally redraw the boundaries of discrimination protection in health-care settings.

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