On October 23, 2025, Germany’s Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG)) ruled that a claim for “equal pay” against an employer can fail simply because the employee fails to specifically state the basis for the alleged “inequality” (Ref. No. 8 AZR 269/24).

Quick Hits

• Under German labor law, employees claiming unequal treatment in relation to a “comparator” must specifically demonstrate in court that they perform the same or equivalent work as the comparator.
• Anyone seeking to sue for “equal hourly wages” must specifically demonstrate the number of working hours on which their own monthly salary is based; without a verifiable gross hourly wage for the plaintiff, a comparison with the comparator’s gross hourly wage is not possible.

The Case—Information First, Payment Later

A female veterinarian demanded information and then back pay for alleged pay differences compared to male colleagues who received higher wages than she did. The BAG ultimately dismissed the lawsuit—in particular because key information regarding the comparability of the jobs was missing.

For several years, the employee had received a monthly base salary of EUR 3,900 gross as a salaried veterinarian at her father’s veterinary clinic. Her male veterinarian colleague—her brother—whom she used as a comparator received a significantly higher amount, EUR 7,100. To quantify her claims for payment, she filed a two-stage action (Stufenklage): In the first stage, the employer was to provide her with...

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