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In principle, it does not matter whether your family member is an entrepreneur or not. However, if you work for a company of a family member and you yourself have any ownership in that company, you can be an entrepreneur in unemployment security. In turn, entrepreneurship can affect your unemployment security in different ways.
Family member
You are a family member of
your spouse and
to a person who is directly related to you in the ascending or descending line and lives with you in the same household
A spouse is a person who is your spouse or with whom you otherwise live together in marriage-like circumstances.
If you are married, we will define you and your spouse as family members, even if you live separately. However, if living apart is due to a break-up between you, we do not define you as family members.
We also define grandchildren, children, parents and grandparents as family members if they live in the same household with you.
We receive information about housing arrangements from the Population Register. If the information in the Population Register does not correspond to reality, you can provide us with an account of the actual conditions of housing. For example, there may be separate dwellings at the same address or the information in the population register is otherwise not up-to-date.
When is an entrepreneur’s family member an entrepreneur?
In terms of unemployment security, you are not considered an entrepreneur based solely on ownership. Nor does a managerial position alone make a person an entrepreneur, and membership of the board of a limited company, for example, is not considered equivalent to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship therefore always requires you to work in the company you own.
The Unemployment Security Act defines a person as an entrepreneur by referring to the pension laws of entrepreneurs. Therefore, if you are an entrepreneur under these laws, you are also covered for unemployment.
If you work for a company for which your family members have ownership or control, they will not be taken into account, unless you also have ownership yourself.
The exception to this comes from the Farmers’ Pensions Act, which may be the basis for situations where you are an entrepreneur without your own share of ownership.
The Unemployment Security Act also defines a co-owner of a company as an entrepreneur. Co-ownership is defined on the basis of ownership and control. There are also similar rules in the Self-Employed Persons’ Pensions Act, but in the Unemployment Security Act, a person is more likely to be considered an entrepreneur. It is therefore possible that you are not an entrepreneur when applying the pension laws, but you are an entrepreneur when applying the Unemployment Security Act.
In unemployment security, you are a co-owner and thus an entrepreneur, if
you work in a managerial position in a limited liability company where you yourself hold at least 15% of the share capital, voting rights or other similar controlling power
you work in a managerial position in a limited liability company where you and your family members together hold at least 30% of the share capital, voting rights or other similar controlling power
you work in a limited liability company where you or you together with your family members have at least half of the share capital, voting rights or other similar authority
you work in a company other than a limited liability company as mentioned above and you or you together with your family members have the same control as referred to in the above points
When do you work in a leadership position?
Working in a managerial position means that you are the CEO or a member of the board of a limited company, or that you work in a similar position in a limited company or other enterprise. Simply working in a managerial position does not make you an entrepreneur; you must also be an owner of the company.
Working condition of an entrepreneur’s family member
If you work for a company of a family member living in the same household and do not have ownership in that company, you are an employee. So you can insure your earnings in case of unemployment with us.
To be eligible for earnings-related daily allowance, you must have fulfilled the working condition during the 28-month review period and during your membership of the unemployment fund. As a family member of an entrepreneur, this working condition is 12 months when the working condition is fulfilled in its entirety after 2.9.2024. If the working condition includes time before 2.9.2024, the working condition is 52 calendar weeks. You will accumulate one month of work when you are paid at least 930 € during a calendar month. If you are paid between 465 € and 929 €, you will accumulate half a month of employment. Before 2.9.2024, each calendar week during which you have worked at least 18 hours is counted toward the working condition. In addition, your salary must meet the minimum requirements and taxes and other mandatory payments must have been paid.
If the working condition is met in full after 2.9.2024, the working condition months accumulated while working in a family business can be combined with the working condition months accumulated in other paid work. If the working condition takes into account the period before 2.9.2024, these jobs cannot be combined, but you must choose which working condition we use as the basis for the earnings-related daily allowance.
