Employers in Germany: Notification of Severe Disability until March 31, 2024

In order to be able to check compliance with this quota and determine any compensation levy, employers are obliged to notify the Federal Employment Agency of the number of severely disabled employees in the previous calendar year in a formalized reporting procedure by March 31. The so-called notification of severely disabled employees for the calendar year 2023 must therefore be submitted no later than March 31, 2024. This statutory deadline cannot be extended. If the notification is intentionally or negligently not submitted, incorrectly or incompletely submitted, not submitted in the prescribed manner, or not submitted on time, this is an administrative offense thatcan be punished with a fine of up to EUR 10,000.

At the same time as the notification is submitted, but no later than March 31, 2024, any due compensation levy must be transferred to the integration office responsible for the employer’s head office. Late payment penalties will be charged for overdue amounts of the compensation levy.

Calculation of the quota

When calculating the quota, companies with fewer than 40 or fewer than 60 employees are privileged insofar as a fixed quota applies to such companies.

Accordingly, employers who employ an annual average of 20-39 employees per month must fill one position with a severely disabled person. If the number of jobs is 40-59, two positions must be filled accordingly.

Precise calculations are made only when the number of employees is exceeds 60. Fractions are to be rounded in accordance with the general rules.

Example:

• On average, 65 people work in a company each year:

5% of 65 = 3.25 ≈ 3 → Company needs to employ three severely disabled persons

• An annual average of 75 people work in a company:

5% of 75 = 3.75 ≈ 4 → Company needs to employ four severely disabled persons

The following positions are not taken into account when calculating the threshold value:

• Jobs that are filled by trainees,
• Positions that are occupied for a maximum period of 8 weeks,
• Positions in which employees work less than 18 hours per week, unless a severely disabled person is employed in a partial workplace for less than 18 hours per week due to the nature and severity of their disability.

Compensation levy

If employers do not meet the mandatory quota, they must pay a so-called compensation levy instead. This must also always be paid by March 31 for the respective previous calendar year.

This compensation levy is calculated for each month a job is vacant:

• EUR 140.00 if an employer with up to 39 employees does not employ at least one severely disabled person.

• EUR 245.00 if an employer employs more than 39 but fewer than 59 employees and does not employ at least two severely disabled persons. If the quota was only reached proportionately, i.e., if only one instead of the prescribed two jobs was filled by a severely disabled person, the employer must pay a monthly compensatory levy of EUR 140.00.

• If there are 60 or more employees, the compensatory levy is EUR 140.00 ifthe proportion of severely disabled employees is between 3% and 5%, EUR 245.00 if the proportion is between 2% and 3%, and EUR 360.00 if the proportion is less than 2%.

Reimbursement of charges

The notification of severe disabilities can be made completely electronically using the IW-Elan program; downloading and using the software is free of charge.

Alternatively, it is also possible to submit a notification in paper form; the relevant forms can be obtained from the order service of the Federal Employment Agency.

The notification must be submitted to the employment agency responsible for your company’s registered office. You can find out which employment agency is responsible for your company’s registered office here.

Further information can also be found in the “Explanatory notes on the 2023 notification procedure” of the Federal Employment Agency.

If you need assistance with the registration procedure or have any questions, we are of course at your disposal!

Photo: Shutterstock / Andrey_Popov