Definition and classification
A Subcontractor (a contractor for work) is a company that, under a Werkvertrag delivers a delimited service and owes a result for it – unlike Staff Leasing, where labor is leased.
Subcontractors are often used alongside staff leasing, for example for delimitable pieces of work. In law, the rules on contracts for work apply to them and – through the supply chain – increasingly duties of care.
What risks are there for the client?
The client can be jointly liable for a subcontractor's breaches – for example on minimum wage (fines up to €500,000), missing social security registrations or occupational safety. Breaches of occupational safety can even lead to criminal proceedings with personal liability for management. Protection comes from continuous, automated checking of clearance certificates and other records.
How do you check subcontractors efficiently?
A fixed list of required records makes sense, requested from every subcontractor automatically, read out and filed with versioning. That gives each subcontractor a compliance status that makes missing or expiring documents visible – the basis for keeping the liability risks manageable.