AP – Bayern Munich have been reprimanded and fined by the Munich customs office for not paying workers the minimum wage.
Munich’s main customs office said yesterday a “well-known Munich football club” underpaid its workers for five years from November 2016 to 2021.
Office spokesman Thomas Meister confirmed to The Associated Press that Bayern – Germany’s most successful and richest club – was the one under investigation. The office is ordering Bayern to pay some EUR250,000 (USD270,000) altogether including late payment penalties and social security payments that it evaded over the five years.
“The investigation found that the football club had not paid the minimum wage in the youth academy it operated.
“In addition, the club did not meet its obligation to record the working hours, or it did so incorrectly and incompletely,” the customs office said.
The office said it consulted or evaluated “a large number of witnesses and material evidence” as part of its investigation, and it found employees at Bayern’s youth player campus were paid EUR450 (USD490) a month “although their actual scope of employment was much higher”.
