Short Answer
You must issue an immediate formal notice of default to your employer the moment your contractual payday passes without a successful wire transfer.
Allowing a company to delay your compensation without a strict legal reaction jeopardizes your financial standing and waives your summary rights.
What Most Expats Don't Realize
You accepted vague administrative excuses from HR regarding a system glitch and waited patiently for three weeks for your missing pay. The company suddenly declared bankruptcy, leaving you at the back of a long line of corporate creditors with zero cash to pay your upcoming rent. You lost €3,200 in gross wages and were hit with a €150 penalty fee from your landlord for bounced bank transfers because you failed to trigger a formal default notice.
What To Do
- Open your physical employment contract to identify the exact calendar day your monthly compensation is legally due.
- Download a standardized legal template for a formal demand of payment (Zahlungsaufforderung) from a trusted consumer portal.
- "Hiermit setze ich Sie wegen des ausstehenden Gehalts in Verzug und fordere Sie auf, den Betrag bis zum [Date] zu überweisen." (I herewith place you in default regarding the outstanding salary and demand that you transfer the amount by [Date].) — send this notice via registered mail (Einschreiben) with a strict seven-day deadline.
The Truth
For a German company, not paying wages is a "death signal." The law is extremely strict here, as unpaid wages are often the first sign that the company is heading toward insolvency.