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Based on this question, where the OP was asked to pay back parts of his salary in cash: I have a hard time imagining any legal reason why an employer could ask back parts of already payed salaries. Maybe if he accidentaly payed too much, or if he had granted an advance, but certainly not just because the employement contract was terminated (for whatever reason)? Even if the employee gets fired for serious missconduct, the salary is IMHO still owed, but he may later be sued for the damage caused. And none of this would happen in cash, even though paying salaries in cash is apparently still legal (but very uncommon in Germany).

Am I missing something here, or does this really look like a serious tax evasion or money laundering attempt (pay €8000 by bank transfer, note it as business expense and then get it back in cash without receipt)?

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    Given the "blue card" aspect of the original question this seems to be some kind of trafficking scheme. I, Mr Manager, will hire you but you have to pay me part of your salary in cash. The "blue card" is an employment visa for Germany as my brief research indicates.
    – Pete B.
    Commented Aug 14 at 13:27
  • @PeteB. Yes, it is, similar to the green card of the US. And yes, there's absolutely something fishy going on here, see the answer by nvoigt: "... law students can write pages over pages what laws and norms have been violated..."
    – PMF
    Commented Aug 14 at 13:34
  • It's not salary, but in US pay of top executives of shareholder-owned companies is only about 10% 'guaranteed' salary and the rest incentive-based based on measures that (at least try to) align executives' personal benefit with that of shareholders; it has been customary for some time to require 'clawback' of such pay made based on measures later found to be incorrect (including fraudulent), and it is now mandatory in case of accounting restatement
    – dave_thompson_085
    Commented Aug 15 at 22:05
  • @dave_thompson_085 That sounds like it should become an answer.
    – PMF
    Commented Aug 16 at 5:45

2 Answers 2

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The only legal base for asking back salary is an error in transferring it in the first place. If the employee was not entitled to it, and the employer transferred it by mistake, the employee has to give it back.

Obviously one can have financial obligations to the employer. Lets say my employer offers a subsidized public transport ticket, where I pay half and my employer pays the other half, then they might keep that half of it from my salary and give me the ticket. Another example is an agreement to pay back parts of the training costs, if an external training was attended that the company paid for, but the participant leaves the company soon after. But that is all written down in the contract, known to accounting and tax authorities etc.

"Give me part of your salary back, in cash, without notifying accounting or tax authorities, or I will end your contract" would be a whole marching band of red flags and illegal on multiple levels. That sounds more like an exam question where law students can write pages over pages what laws and norms have been violated, because it is so wrong on so many levels, it's absurd.

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    Oh, I didn't even read the "or I'll fire you" part of the question.
    – PMF
    Commented Aug 14 at 12:37
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    @Jen: But in the linked original question. I had not understood that extra threat in there in the first place.
    – PMF
    Commented Aug 14 at 13:08
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    For germany at least you are missing the pay back of vacation days if you are in the "Probezeit" (Probation period?). If you have for example 30 Vacation days p.A., then take all of them in the first half and quit you have to pay back salary for half of those days
    – SirHawrk
    Commented Aug 15 at 8:26
  • @SirHawrk By law, your full PTO allowance only goes into effect after 6 months and by law the maximum probation time is also 6 months. So a scenario where you are legally entitled to PTO and still in Probezeit is unlikely. If your company grants you something you are not entitled to by your contract, yes, there may be conditions on it for paying it back if you leave early.
    – nvoigt
    Commented Aug 15 at 9:10
  • You generally do not have to pay back PTO if you take them "in the first half", though. So for example if you have worked there for a year and are entitled to 30 days PTO, you can take them all in January and then quit. You do not have to pay anything back. You will however not have any more PTO with your new employer, as they will be informed you already took it all and they are not required to grant you any that year, not even the legal minimum if you already took those days with your old employer.
    – nvoigt
    Commented Aug 15 at 9:12
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When would it be legal to ask back (parts of) the salary?

An employer is entitled to recover overpaid salary.

If agreed to in the employment contract, an employer may also be entitled to recover what is known as a "training bond." This is an amount of salary equivalent to the expense of training the employee, if the employment ends before a minimum period of time.

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  • In the contracts I've seen (Europe), the training bond are recovered pro-rata. So for example for trainings received in the last year, the employee would have to pay 1/4 of the cost of a training received 9 months ago, and 3/4 of the cost of a training received 3 months ago.
    – Matthieu M.
    Commented Aug 15 at 9:46

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