The ones from the Federal Government planned employeeRelief bonus of 1,000 euros has triggered cautious reactions and some criticism from companies in Germany. In a survey by the dpa news agency, most companies said they wanted to wait for the concrete regulation first.
According to dpa, these include companies like: Boschcar manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, the industrial group Siemens, the energy supplier E.on and the defense company Rheinmetall. The airport operator Fraport, Lufthansa and Deutsche Börse have not yet made a decision. None of those surveyed wanted to commit in advance to paying the proposed premium of up to 1,000 euros.
“From a company perspective, it is not expedient to place additional flat-rate payments at the center of the energy price debate,” said the industrial group Thyssenkrupp. Bosch labor director Stefan Grosch said when the group presented its balance sheet: “The law is not yet available. If it is available, we will check it.” The Rossmann drugstore chain, however, immediately announced that it would pay all employees a bonus as soon as the decision was legally binding – usually 500 euros, 250 euros for sales assistants.
According to a media report, Commerzbank rejects the bonus
A survey by the DPA also came to similar results as the dpa survey World on Sunday and the portal Business Insider: As a result, companies in the German stock index (Dax) first want to wait for the draft law and then decide whether they will pay out the bonus or not. None of the companies surveyed made firm commitments or rejections.
The Picture on Sunday however, reported in an advance report Commerzbank reject the relief bonus. “We are currently not planning to implement such a bonus for Commerzbank,” said a spokeswoman for the private bank when asked by the newspaper. “From a company perspective, the introduction of a relief bonus entails financial expenses that can represent an additional economic challenge,” it continued. In addition, the economy is currently in a phase in which “many companies across sectors are under cost pressure.”
Criticism of the bonus also comes from the head of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH), Jörg Dittrich. He called for the black-red coalition in talks with the Picture-Newspaper to drop their plan. It would be good if “the state would quickly collect this dishonest idea and replace it with another proposal,” Dittrich told the paper. The bonus is “socially unfair and economically wrong.” The state is thus shifting responsibility to the already heavily burdened companies. He therefore warned of a “two-tier society between those who pay and those who simply cannot.”
Medium-sized companies also have reservations
There is currently little prospect of the bonus for employees in medium-sized businesses either. According to a quick survey by the Federal Association of Medium-Sized Businesses, only a fifth of the 2,000 companies surveyed could imagine paying out the crisis bonus. Half have already decided against it, as ZDF reported. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association said many of its companies could not afford the premium.
Ver.di boss Frank Werneke spoke of a “non-starter”. »This raises great expectations. But which employer will pay the money voluntarily? Werneke told the Editorial Network Germany (RND). As employers of more than five million employees, states, federal and local governments have already declared that they do not want to pay. “If the state doesn’t even want to implement its own laws, why should private employers do that?” asked the trade unionist.
The black-red coalition has because of the high energy costs as a result of the Iran War decided that employers can pay their employees a tax-free relief bonus of 1,000 euros. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) wants this regulation to apply for 2026 and 2027. According to government spokesman Steffen Meyer, the internal government vote on the relief bonus is currently underway.
The federal government had also announced that from May Reduce mineral oil tax on petrol and diesel by 17 cents per liter for two months.