This is in Germany.
So there is company A. Recently i applied for a job with A, got interviewed, got accepted and signed a Arbeitsvertrag (work contract) with company A. Now i got my first Gehaltsabrechnung (payroll / payslip) including Meldebescheinigung zur Sozialversicherung (register for social security). But both those documents have Company B as my employer.
Some background: Companies A and B were both founded by the same person (my boss), are still owned by that very person, are even located in the same building. But are registered as fully seperate companies (different HRB numbers in the Handelsregister). Through a coworker i found out that when i was hired, Company A had some employees on Kurzarbeit (shortened work hours for less pay). Hiring new personal while having existing employees on Kurzarbeit is not allowed in general as far as i know, which makes me strongly suspect this was the reason for this charade.
I had no knowledge of all of that until discovering the inconsistencies in my documents now and, suffice it to say, never gave my consent for these proceedings. I think this is quite shady and, while i overall like the job and people there, it has definitely soured the whole deal for me. I have already decided to look for and switch jobs as soon as possible, but still have some legal questions:
- Was this whole sign contract with A and get employed by B legal ? Would they have required my consent to do this ?
- More important: In which company am i employed now ?
- Am i properly employed and therefore secured in cases of e.g. workplace accidents ?
- Personal advice ? Am i making more of this than it actually is ? Should i keep my head down and get out asap ?