Since April 2017, German government has tighten the law to regulate a segment of labor market, the so called ANÜ (temporary employment). A big part of such temporary employees were low-paid workers and the government is trying to protect them. The new law states that if a company hires a temporary employee and he or she has worked for the company for more than 9 months, he or she will get equal-pay as a permanent employee.

On the other hand, for freelancer / self-employed, the old law still prevail with its absurdity about the definition of the self-employment. Just a few examples for a self-employed engineer who works on a project for a company. You will run into risks to be deprived from your self-employment status if you have been assigned a desk in the company; if you use a computer from the company; if you participate the company party, if you get direct instructions from a company employer … …

It would be reasonable for certain freelancers, e.g. journalist, web-designer, etc. However, if you are an engineer specialized in certain displine, you have to be against a few odds to be able to keep your self-employment status.