Not labour leasing: who the contracting parties are
Sunworker only acts as an intermediary: your venue concludes the contract for the shift directly with the self-employed professional, who sets their own hourly rate and accepts or declines each request themselves.
Who is who
- Your venue is the client and the professional’s contracting party.
- The professional is self-employed. They set their own hourly rate, surcharges and cancellation scale and decide on each request individually.
- Sunworker brokers the contact, checks credentials and handles payment. Sunworker does not become a party to the shift contract, does not lease anyone out and does not employ anyone.
Why this separation matters
Labour leasing without a licence is prohibited. If individual shifts turn into an employment relationship in practice, your venue is hit first: back payment of social security contributions, a fine under the German Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) and, in the worst case, an employment relationship that is deemed to exist by law. Classification in individual cases is decided by the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung).
Signs to avoid
- Fixed rotas instead of individual requests
- Instructions beyond the agreed service
- Integration into your organisation like permanent workers, for example approving holidays
- Dictating the hourly rate
Booking the same professional several times is expressly allowed — each shift is requested and billed individually. If you regularly need the same person for fixed shifts, hire them; Sunworker is not designed for that.
If Sunworker notices patterns of disguised labour leasing, the accounts involved are suspended and outstanding amounts are held until the matter is resolved.
Separate when it comes to money too
The invoice for the shift goes to your venue in the professional's name — Sunworker is not your contracting party for the work. Sunworker only charges you the service fee for brokering. The professional pays tax on their own income.
More on this in the frequently asked questions.
Before a professional’s first shift, you can jointly apply for a forecast decision (section 7a(4a) SGB IV): the clearing office of the German Pension Insurance then determines in advance, with binding effect, whether the planned work is self-employed. A written contract is required. Sunworker does not check or decide anything in this.
If you book the same professional on many days in a month, Sunworker shows you both a calm note on the shift about status determination. It is not a block and not a rating, just a prompt to have the status clarified if needed.
In short: individual shifts, freely agreed and billed individually — that is what Sunworker is built for.
Was this article helpful?
This page explains; it is not legal or tax advice. Our Terms are what counts.