ECJ: posted workers did not have to receive minimum wage

In Dr Ruffert (as liquidator of the assets of Objekt und Bauregie GmbH & Co. KG) v Land Niedersachsen C-346/06, the ECJ held that a German public authority could not require contractors (and subcontractors) to pay posted workers the minimum wage specified in a local collective agreement.

The ECJ held that the regional state, as opposed to national, law which placed the requirement on the public authority but which did not set any miminum rates of pay was not a "law" within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 96/71/EC (the Posted Workers Directive). Furthermore, while Germany had a mechanism for declaring collective agreements universally applicable, the collective agreement at issue in this case had not been declared universally applicable and did not therefore comply with Article 3(1) of the Posted Workers Directive.