I wonder if bankruptcy could be the result of all this.
In fact, there is no legal obligation to pay an employee before the end of the month (unless explicitly stated in the work contract). I've worked for employers that only paid in the first week of the next month.
If the money wasn't in their account by tonight, they may want to get worried. But at this point in time, this is just the press trying to spread some hysteria.
Edit: The problem with vacation: You lose track of time. the 28th of course was Monday.
Source: writing from Germany on Tuesday the 29th.
Source: Pope Gregory XIII with additional inputs from the Giant ball of fire in the sky.
Not paying your workers in Europe especially Germany is a big no-no and will get you in huge trouble. Expect regulators to start taking Twitter through the ringer.
> BGB, Section 614
> Due date of remuneration
> Remuneration is to be paid after performance of the services. If remuneration is assessed by time periods, then it is to be paid at the end of the individual time periods.
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb/englisch_bgb...
The German language, especially in legal texts, is a weapon.
So that's not normal but is an internal problem, even if a one off and not necessarily serious.
As an aside, and it might be different in Germany, if a payment due date falls on a weekend/bank holiday then usually the payment should be made before, not after, because payments are expected by due date, not later...
I've worked for the same firm (a medium-sized aerospace company) for 15 years.
Never once, for approximately all three hundred and ninety pay periods during that time, has my pay been even 1 femtosecond late, or the date of my pay been changed.
Is this really common and normal?
Personally, I consider it a gigantic, waving, red flag if payroll cannot push the button on time, every time, with no exceptions. That's the simplest and most fundamental business process there is: paying your employees.