Mindestlohnausnahme für Zeitungszusteller?

Germany recently embarked upon a path of statutory minimum wages. This legal opinion, which was given on behalf of the United Services Union, reveals that the freedom of press, provided by Art. 5 (1) of the German Basic Law, does not claim an exception provision as far as paperboys benefit from the minimum wage regulation. In this context, the existing minimum wage fixing instruments according to German labor law, solely granting a sector-specific minimum wage, are analyzed. Furthermore this legal study outlines the real impacts on publishers as well as delivery services. Even though a statutory minimum wage without a press-related exception may threaten the existence of its addressees in exceptional cases, the legal concept of invariably minimum wages is constitutional and, in particular, proportionate to the purpose for which it was adopted.