Original enquiry

I'm inquiring this for topic on behalf of a larger group of colleagues who can't speak English. We are a number of Romanians workers employed by a German company as truck drivers. We have been placed on the highest tax bracket and we don't seem to be eligible to benefit from any of the social security safety net besides the health insurance (e.g. Child support, unemployment benefit, pension etc.). We rely on the employer for some answers, but for more than a year there seems to be no significant progress. We therfore, decided to get the issue into our hands. Any kind of advice from where we shall start will be highly appreciated.

Europe Advice response

Please find below the reply to your enquiry. Please note that the advice given by Your Europe Advice is an independent advice and cannot be considered to be the opinion of the European Commission, of any other EU institution or its staff nor will this advice be binding upon the European Commission, any other EU or national institution. 

Dear Sir, 

Thank you for your enquiry. 

The A1 form proves to the foreign authorities that a posted worker is already insured in another state. The document A1 is issued upon application by, for example, the health insurance company, by which the posted person is insured. The document confirms your social security status and the state in which you are paying contributions. The EU Coordination Rules of Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 state that business travellers are required to obtain and carry an A1 form even for short-term, one-day missions/assignments abroad. Article 11 (1) of Regulation 883/2004 provides that an employee may only be covered by social insurance in one Member State at a time. This is the so-called exclusivity principle. According to Article 12 of the same regulation, a posted worker is subject to the law of the state in which he normally works. You can find the regulation on the website https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02004R0883-20140101&from=DE. A "posted worker" is a worker who is sent by his employer to another EU country to provide a service there for a limited period of time (https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=471&langId=de). As a truck driver, you will be familiar with this form to transport goods across EU borders. 

In your case, however, Directive 2004/38 on the right of EU-citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the EU applies. According to article 3, the Directive applies to all Union citizens who move to or reside in a Member State other than that of which they are a national, and to their family members. Since you as a Romanian national live and work in Germany, this Directive applies to you. According to article 7, all Union citizens shall have the right of residence on the territory of another Member State for a period of longer than three months if they: 
- are workers or self-employed persons in the host Member State; or 
- have sufficient resources for themselves and their family members not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member Stated during their period of residence and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the host Member State; or 
- are enrolled at a private or public establishment for the principal purpose of following a course of study; and have comprehensive sickness insurance cover. 
You can access the Directive following this link: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02004L0038-20110616&from=EN. 

Based on Regulation 883/2004, Article 11, a person pursuing an activity as an employed or self-employed person in a Member State shall be subject to the legislation of that Member State, in your case, Germany. Assuming that you are holding a German residence permit as well as a German work contract, this means that you fall under German national law for all social matters. Once again, we want to reiterate that all social services, which include unemployment benefits and child support are heavily tied to residence titles, employment and insurance periods based on Directive 88/2004. 

If you have worked in several EU countries, you may have acquired pension rights in each of these countries. You must submit your application to the pension fund of the country where you currently live or last worked. If you have never worked in the country you live in, your host country will send your application to the country where you last worked. This country will be responsible for processing your pension application and will cover all the insurance periods you have completed in the countries in which you were employed. Article 6 of Regulation 883/2004 states that insurance periods in other EU countries must be added together as if they were periods completed under German legislation. Any working time in Romania or other EU Member States will be considered accordingly. 

You can access the Directive here in full: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02004R0883-20140101&from=DE

The following authorities in Germany may be able to help you further: 

BA - Bundesagentur für Arbeit 
Federal Employment Agency 
Regensburger Straße 104 
DE-90478 Nürnberg 
Website: https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/en/welcome
Tel.: +49 91 11 20 31 01 0 
Tel.: 0800 45 55 50 0 

Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales 
Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs 
Wilhelmstraße 49 
DE-10117 Berlin 
Website: https://www.bmas.de/EN/Our-Topics/Social-Security/social-security.html
Tel.: +49 30 18 52 70 
E-mail: info@bmas.bund.de

Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge 
Federal Ministry for Migration and Refugees 
Frankenstr. 210 
90461 Nürnberg 
Service Center: Monday to Friday 09:00-15:00 via telephone +49 911 943-0 or via e-mail at service@bamf.bund.de or via their contact form, which you can find following this link: https://www.bamf.de/DE/Infothek/AnsprechpartnerAdressen/ansprechpartner-node.html?themeId=1489312. 

To identify further representations that could provide you with assistance in Germany, the following link for identifying responsible local authorities may also be helpful: https://www.behoerdenfinder.de/opencms/searchjs.do. 

We hope this answers your question. If you have a new inquiry, additional questions relating to this case or if you want to provide us with additional information, please feel free to contact us again. Please use the YEA web form (http://ec.europa.eu/eu-rights/enquiry-complaint-form/home?languageCode=en ) in order to do so. 
In case of a follow up to a previous inquiry, please provide us with the original case s reference number. 

Kind Regards, 
Your Europe Advice Team