Compliance Radar
Who was sanctioned, and for what?
Fines, court rulings and incidents from Europe and North America: 756 cases from 32 jurisdictions, each with an official source and checked against that source before publication. Filter by country, area of law and sector. Click a chart to drill down one level.
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Where?
by countryWhat for?
by action- Fine €937,635 100 % · 10 cases
- Custodial sentence — 0 % · 2 cases
- Order — 0 % · 1 case
Who?
by sectorAll sectors
When?
per quarter, by date of decision| Period | Cases | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2023 | 0 | — |
| Q4 2023 | 0 | — |
| Q1 2024 | 1 | €500,000 |
| Q2 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q3 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q4 2024 | 0 | — |
| Q1 2025 | 0 | — |
| Q2 2025 | 1 | — |
| Q3 2025 | 2 | €500 |
| Q4 2025 | 1 | — |
| Q1 2026 | 4 | €273,547 |
| Q2 2026 | 0 | — |
| Q3 2026 | 4 | €163,588 |
13 cases
21 Sep 2026 Gilda producer systematically employed workers without permits – 18,000 EUR fine €18,000
The owner of a business in Bizkaia that produces and sells Basque gildas repeatedly employed foreign workers without work permits between December 2018 and May 2021, thereby reducing wage and social security costs. The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country (Tribunal Superior de Justicia del País Vasco, TSJPV) upheld the conviction by the Audiencia de Bizkaia (Bizkaia Provincial Court) for an offence against workers' rights: a fine of 18,000 EUR and 2,500 EUR compensation for each employee bringing a claim; an earlier administrative sanction against the company does not preclude this. The judgment is not yet final (date = publication).
Administrative fines do not protect against criminal prosecution – in Spain, systematic employment without work permits is prosecuted as a criminal offence of the owner.
- Authority / court
- Tribunal Superior de Justicia del País Vasco (TSJPV; Vorinstanz: Audiencia Provincial de Bizkaia)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- Art. 311 bis a) Código Penal (Delitos contra los derechos de los trabajadores)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Culpability
- intentional
- Repeat case
- yes
- Liability of senior managers
- Owner personally convicted under criminal law; administrative sanctions had previously been imposed on the company.
- Published
- 21 Sep 2026
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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27 Aug 2026 Flower bulb business failed to disclose hours of Polish seasonal workers – fine of around 95,600 EUR €95,588
A lily and tulip grower with an average of around 50 (at peak 75) employees, where Polish migrant workers are employed (anonymised in the judgment), was unable to produce sufficient records of hours worked and wages paid for 18 employees for September 2020 to February 2021. The Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment (Minister van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid) imposed 118,000 EUR in 2024 (112,100 EUR after objection); the North Netherlands District Court (Rechtbank Noord-Nederland) reduced the fine to 95,587.50 EUR, partly because of measures taken and excessively long proceedings.
Companies employing seasonal workers must be able to document hours and wage payments for each person without gaps – missing records are fined separately for each employee.
- Authority / court
- Rechtbank Noord-Nederland (Bußgeld: Minister van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid / Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- Art. 18b Abs. 2 Wet minimumloon en minimumvakantiebijslag (Wml)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- reduced
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Employees
- 50 to 249
- Mitigating circumstances
- Reduction of 12.5 % for appropriate measures, 5 % for delay and 2,500 EUR for exceeding the reasonable length of proceedings.
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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12 Aug 2026 40 lorry drivers hired out under sham service contract: 35,000 EUR in fines for haulage firms €35,000
A German haulage operator deployed 40 foreign drivers from two affiliated Lithuanian transport companies under his sole direction; the hiring-out of workers was disguised as a contract for work and services (Werkvertrag), and there was no licence from the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit). Final fines: 20,000 EUR against the Lithuanian managing director and 15,000 EUR against the German hirer (date = publication).
What counts is actual practice: companies that deploy and direct third-party drivers like their own staff are engaged in temporary agency work – regardless of what the contract says.
- Authority / court
- Hauptzollamt Lörrach (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (Überlassung ohne Erlaubnis)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Transport, logistics and shipping
- Liability of senior managers
- Fines imposed personally on the managing director of the lending company and on the hirer.
- Published
- 12 Aug 2026
- Transportunternehmer im Raum Freiburg entleiht 40 Fahrer ohne Erlaubnis (Hauptzollamt Lörrach) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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21 Jul 2026 Underpayment of twelve employees: VwGH upholds 15,000 EUR against GmbH head €15,000
The managing director under commercial law of a GmbH (anonymised in the decision as ‘L GmbH’, insolvent in 2025) had underpaid twelve employees by considerable amounts, partly in 2023 and predominantly in 2024. The Vienna municipal authority (Magistrat der Stadt Wien) imposed 38,000 EUR, and the Vienna Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht Wien) reduced this to 15,000 EUR; Austria's Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) rejected the appeal on points of law (Ra 2026/11/0064).
In Austria, underpayment is penalised per employee and hits the managing director personally – payroll belongs in compliance monitoring.
- Authority / court
- Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Vorinstanzen: Magistrat der Stadt Wien, Verwaltungsgericht Wien)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 29 Abs. 1 Lohn- und Sozialdumping-Bekämpfungsgesetz (LSD-BG)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- reduced
- Mitigating circumstances
- Reduction of the fine by the Vienna Administrative Court.
- Liability of senior managers
- The fine is directed against the managing director under commercial law.
- VwGH Ra 2026/11/0064 vom 21.07.2026 (RIS) Court decision
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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23 Feb 2026 15 construction workers not registered: criminal fine and administrative fine for managing director €16,316
A Romanian construction firm, acting as a subcontractor for a Düsseldorf client, deployed 15 workers on a construction site in the district of Emmendingen without registering them for social insurance; the loss amounted to around 85,000 EUR. The managing director received a final penalty order (Strafbefehl) of 15,000 EUR and a fine of 1,316 EUR (date = publication).
Companies that deploy foreign workers must be able to prove social insurance coverage in the country of origin (A1 certificate) – otherwise German contribution law applies.
- Authority / court
- Amtsgericht Kenzingen / Hauptzollamt Lörrach (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 266a StGB (Vorenthalten und Veruntreuen von Arbeitsentgelt); SGB IV (Meldepflichten)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Construction and real estate
- Culpability
- intentional
- Liability of senior managers
- Managing director personally convicted by penalty order.
- Published
- 23 Feb 2026
- Hohe Geldstrafe für Geschäftsführer einer Baufirma (Hauptzollamt Lörrach) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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12 Feb 2026 Polish construction company: underpayment of rebar benders – 11,000 EUR upheld €11,000
The managing director of a Polish construction company with twelve employees (anonymised in the decision as ‘P Sp. z o.o.’), which was working as a subcontractor on a motorway bridge construction site in Upper Austria, had paid five rebar benders below the collectively agreed wage in March 2023. The Gmunden district authority (Bezirkshauptmannschaft Gmunden) imposed 12,500 EUR, and the Upper Austria Regional Administrative Court (Landesverwaltungsgericht Oberösterreich) reduced this to 11,000 EUR; Austria's Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) rejected the appeal on points of law (Ra 2025/11/0196).
When posting workers to Austria, the correct classification of each activity under the collective agreement is decisive – it is subject to full judicial review.
- Authority / court
- Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Vorinstanzen: Bezirkshauptmannschaft Gmunden, Landesverwaltungsgericht Oberösterreich)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 29 Abs. 1 Lohn- und Sozialdumping-Bekämpfungsgesetz (LSD-BG)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- reduced
- Sector
- Construction and real estate
- Employees
- Under 50
- Mitigating circumstances
- Reduction of the fine by the Regional Administrative Court.
- Liability of senior managers
- The fine is directed against the managing director as the person responsible under administrative criminal law.
- VwGH Ra 2025/11/0196 vom 12.02.2026 (RIS) Court decision
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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22 Jan 2026 Logistics business: fines for minimum wage, reporting and foreign employment violations €13,731
Between June and December 2023, a logistics and transport business withheld a total of around 2,000 EUR in minimum wages from several employees, breached reporting and immediate notification obligations, and in July/August 2023 employed a foreign national without a residence permit. The fines: 5,231 EUR (minimum wage), 750 EUR each (reporting obligations) and 7,000 EUR (unauthorised employment of foreign nationals), totalling 13,731 EUR (date = publication).
Even small wage arrears are penalised individually alongside reporting and residence violations – HR processes for new hires need a fixed checklist.
Immediate notification and checking of work permits when hiring
- Authority / court
- Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 21 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 MiLoG; § 111 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 SGB IV; § 404 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 SGB III
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Transport, logistics and shipping
- Published
- 22 Jan 2026
- Zoll ahndet Mindestlohn- und Meldepflichtverstöße bei Logistikunternehmen (Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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9 Jan 2026 Bulgarian construction subcontractor: 232,500 EUR for paying below the minimum wage €232,500
A Bulgarian construction company that worked as a subcontractor for a German firm on a major construction site in the district of Tuttlingen between January and May 2023 paid below the minimum wage, recorded only the duration of working time rather than its start and end, and did not register the posting. The decisions issued in September 2025, final since the end of 2025, amount to 232,500 EUR – of which 215,000 EUR is disgorgement of the economic benefit and 17,500 EUR is imposed on the managing director (date = publication; exact date of the decision not specified).
General contractors should actively check the minimum wage, working time records and posting notifications of their foreign subcontractors – the economic benefit is disgorged in full.
- Authority / court
- Hauptzollamt Singen (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- Mindestlohngesetz; Arbeitnehmer-Entsendegesetz (Aufzeichnungs- und Meldepflichten)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Construction and real estate
- Liability of senior managers
- Separate fine of 17,500 EUR against the managing director.
- Published
- 9 Jan 2026
- Zeit, Geld, Meldepflicht – Zoll ahndet Verstöße mit sechsstelligem Bußgeld (Hauptzollamt Singen) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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13 Nov 2025 BSG: company car does not replace the minimum wage – additional contribution claims upheld Order
Two employers remunerated part-time workers solely by providing a company car. Germany's Federal Social Court (Bundessozialgericht, BSG) upheld the German pension insurance's claims for additional contributions: the benefit in kind does not satisfy the minimum wage entitlement, and contributions must be paid on the minimum wage owed (B 12 BA 8/24 R, B 12 BA 6/23 R).
Remuneration models involving benefits in kind should be checked for minimum wage compliance before they are introduced – otherwise additional contribution claims going back years may follow.
Minimum wage in money only – benefits in kind in payroll
- Authority / court
- Bundessozialgericht, 12. Senat (Betriebsprüfung: Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 1 MiLoG; § 28p SGB IV (Betriebsprüfung)
- Action
- Order
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Published
- 14 Nov 2025
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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28 Aug 2025 Taxi operator manipulated shift sheets: suspended sentence, 440,000 EUR loss Custodial sentence
A taxi operator from the district of Karlsruhe, who also ran a café, had taxi drivers fill in shift sheets incompletely, destroyed documents subject to retention requirements and failed to pay over social insurance contributions of more than 440,000 EUR; in addition, he wrongly claimed short-time working allowance (Kurzarbeitergeld). Final: 1 year and 4 months' imprisonment suspended on probation, 120 hours of community service and restitution of the loss (date = publication).
In the taxi and transport sector, incomplete working time records are the first point of attack for the FKS (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit, the customs unit combating illicit employment) – time recording must be complete and tamper-proof.
- Authority / court
- Amtsgericht Karlsruhe (Ermittlung: Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe, FKS)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 266a StGB (126 Fälle)
- Action
- Custodial sentence
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Transport, logistics and shipping
- Culpability
- intentional
- Mitigating circumstances
- Sentence suspended on probation.
- Liability of senior managers
- Operator convicted personally.
- Published
- 28 Aug 2025
- Verschleierte Arbeitszeiten und vernichtete Belege (Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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22 Jul 2025 Hungarian haulier: lorry driver underpaid during posting – 500 EUR final €500
A Hungarian lorry driver of a freight transport company based in Hungary (not named in the decision) received only 137.94 EUR instead of the 319.55 EUR required under the collective agreement for a posting to Austria in March 2020. The Weiz district authority (Bezirkshauptmannschaft Weiz) imposed 500 EUR on the managing director, and the Styria Regional Administrative Court (Landesverwaltungsgericht Steiermark) upheld this; Austria's Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) rejected the appeal on points of law (Ra 2025/11/0049).
Even short cross-border transport operations trigger Austrian minimum pay obligations – haulage companies must account for posting days separately.
- Authority / court
- Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Vorinstanzen: Bezirkshauptmannschaft Weiz, Landesverwaltungsgericht Steiermark)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 29 Abs. 1 Lohn- und Sozialdumping-Bekämpfungsgesetz (LSD-BG)
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Transport, logistics and shipping
- Liability of senior managers
- The fine is directed against the managing director under commercial law.
- VwGH Ra 2025/11/0049 vom 22.07.2025 (RIS) Court decision
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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20 May 2025 Plastering business: 7.85 million EUR loss from cash-in-hand wages, over four years in prison Custodial sentence
A Munich master plasterer, whose business specialising in stucco façades at times had up to 60 employees, paid undeclared cash wages for years and concealed them with sham invoices from supposed Italian subcontractors; the loss uncovered for public funds amounts to 7.85 million EUR. The Munich I Regional Court (Landgericht München I) sentenced him with final effect to 4 years and 3 months, and a foreman to 3 years' imprisonment for aiding and abetting.
Cash-in-hand wage schemes are uncovered over the years – the loss adds up, and employees who take part are also punished.
- Authority / court
- Landgericht München I, 6. Strafkammer (Ermittlung: Hauptzollamt Rosenheim, FKS Weilheim)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- § 266a StGB (Vorenthalten und Veruntreuen von Arbeitsentgelt); § 370 AO (Steuerhinterziehung)
- Action
- Custodial sentence
- Status of proceedings
- final
- Sector
- Construction and real estate
- Employees
- 50 to 249
- Culpability
- intentional
- Liability of senior managers
- Owner and foreman personally sentenced to prison terms.
- Published
- 9 Jul 2025
- Über vier Jahre Haft wegen Sozialversicherungsbetrugs für Bauunternehmer (Hauptzollamt Rosenheim) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link
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30 Jan 2024 Vegetable grower cheats harvest workers out of minimum wage: around 500,000 EUR in fines and confiscation €500,000
A vegetable-growing business did not pay harvest workers the collectively agreed minimum wage; the shortfall was just under 300,000 EUR. The investigation was based on interviews conducted with interpreters and the analysis of working time and harvest volume data. Fines of around 200,000 EUR were imposed, and around 300,000 EUR in proceeds of the offence were confiscated in addition (date = publication).
Piece-rate and volume-based pay in seasonal work must reach the minimum wage per hour; deductions for accommodation and work equipment are closely scrutinised.
- Authority / court
- Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit)
- Area of law
- Health and safety and employment law · Minimum wage and undeclared work
- Legal basis
- Mindestlohn- bzw. Tarifrecht (tariflich bestimmter Mindestlohn); Einziehung des Tatertrags
- Action
- Fine
- Status of proceedings
- unknown
- Sector
- Food and agriculture
- Published
- 30 Jan 2024
- Erntehelfer um Mindestlohn betrogen (Hauptzollamt Karlsruhe) Press release of an authority
Checked against the official source on 25 Sep 2026 · Direct link