Main job and second job with the same employer - is that possible?

A Minijob alongside your main job - what is possible? 

Having a Minijob (a low-earnings job under German social security rules) alongside your actual main job is not generally a problem, as long as the statutory earnings ceiling of €556 (as at 2025) is not exceeded. The big advantage of so-called marginal employment is that it is free of tax and social security contributions. 

So if you want to earn a little extra on the side, a Minijob is certainly one way to do it. Bear in mind, though, that rest periods and maximum working hours have to be looked at cumulatively: 

• Across both jobs, employees may not work more than 48 hours per week, 8 hours a day, in total 
• and must observe a rest period of 11 hours between periods of work. 

What about a main job and a second job with the same employer? 

Being employed by the same employer is a different matter: a main job and a second job with the same employer are not permitted. That was the ruling of the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (the Berlin-Brandenburg tax court) in December 2022. 

It means that employment subject to social security contributions (the main job) and a Minijob with the same employer may not be treated separately. The pay from both jobs must be added together and subjected to social security contributions and wage tax accordingly. That applies even where two different businesses belonging to the same employer are involved.

How this has changed the legal position on second jobs 

With this ruling, the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg clearly distances itself from the case law of the Finanzgericht Münster (the Münster tax court). Back in 2003, that court held that a main job and a second job with the same employer were lawful where two separate businesses were involved. 

Under the current ruling, the two employers behind the main job and the second job must not only be different institutions (a GmbH, for example) but must also be two different legal persons (that is, different private individuals). 

Here is an example of how the legal position now changes:

Suppose Ms Müller has worked for several years in Mr Peters' property business as her main job, and at the same time holds a marginal job in Mr Peters' clothing shop. 

Under the old ruling of the Finanzgericht Münster, the job in the clothing shop was free of tax and social security contributions. But under the new ruling of the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg, both jobs must be added together, because Mr Peters is the employer in both cases and therefore counts in law as the same private individual.

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