ABSTRACT
A Portuguese national, employed by a Portuguese outsourcing company, worked on a contract to provide concreting work in Berlin, Germany. When he was not paid, he sued the building site operator under the 1998 German Social Security Law. This requires organizations employing outsourcing companies to act as guarantors of wages due from the company up to the level of the national minimum wage. German courts considered this amount inadequate, as it would deter mobility of labour.
