Fines under occupational safety law (§ 25 ArbSchG)
Up to €30,000 fine for breaching an authority order.
A fine of up to €30,000 under § 25 (1) no. 2 (a) in conjunction with § 25 (2) ArbSchG requires the employer to have breached an enforceable order of the supervisory authority under § 22 (3) ArbSchG. All other cases under § 25 carry up to €5,000. A missing risk assessment alone does not trigger a fine; it is the trigger for the order. In parallel, GDPR fines under Art. 83 apply where employee data is processed unlawfully. § 43 BDSG, often cited here, concerns consumer credit enquiries under § 30 BDSG and not employee data.
Maximum fine § 25 ArbSchG
§ 25 ArbSchG maximum
only where an enforceable order is breached
§ 25 ArbSchG all other cases
(1) no. 1 and no. 2 (b)
Art. 83 GDPR or 4 % of annual turnover
for breaches of Art. 5, 6 or 9
Imprisonment under § 26 ArbSchG
for persistent repetition
Two parallel fine streams
Failing to conduct the GB Psych, or conducting it in breach of data protection law, exposes an employer to two independent fine regimes. First, § 25 ArbSchG: up to €30,000 where the employer breaches an enforceable order of the supervisory authority under § 22 (3) ArbSchG that objected to a missing or deficient risk assessment. All other cases under § 25 are capped at €5,000. Second, Art. 83 (5) GDPR: for breaches of Art. 5, 6 or 9 GDPR, up to €20m or 4 % of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. Employee data falls under this GDPR stream.
How amounts are set in practice
- Severity and duration of the breach (Art. 83 (2) GDPR)
- Intent or negligence
- Number of data subjects affected
- Repetition: persistently repeating a breach of an enforceable order under § 22 (3) ArbSchG is a criminal offence under § 26 ArbSchG
- Willingness of the controller to cooperate
Sources
- 1
§ 25 ArbSchG - Bußgeldvorschriften
Bundesministerium der Justiz, 2025
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07 - 2
§ 26 ArbSchG - Strafvorschriften
Bundesministerium der Justiz, 2025
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07 - 3
Art. 83 DSGVO - Allgemeine Bedingungen für die Verhängung von Geldbußen
Europäische Union, 2018
Bis 20 Mio. € oder 4 % des weltweiten Jahresumsatzes bei Verstoß gegen Art. 5, 6, 9.
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07
We use deeplink-friendly originals. Charts are redrawn from the data - no 1:1 copies. For Statista data the underlying primary source (e.g. WIdO, AOK) is named explicitly.
Further reading
Related datasets
Inspection density
0,84 % · Inspection density in Germany 2022 (BMAS interim report on inspection density)
GB Psych coverage
47,4 % · Inspected businesses without a risk assessment (GDA Psyche programme 2013-2018, not a random sample)
Tools & guides
Compliance, not calculations.
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