A company is entitled and obliged to participate in the social security fund procedures of the construction industry if, in terms of working hours, it predominantly or exclusively carries out construction services within the meaning of the construction collective agreements that have been declared generally binding. The decisive factor for assessing the obligation to contribute to Soka-Bau is the activities actually carried out by a company – measured in terms of the company’s total working hours. Economic aspects such as sales and earnings or commercial law criteria are not relevant. Each company must be assessed separately based on its individuality; A general statement and assignment is therefore not possible.

principle

Every construction company can be obliged to contribute to SOKA-BAU! The scope of the social insurance collective agreements in the construction industry, which have been declared generally binding, basically covers all companies in the construction and finishing trades and there is therefore an obligation to participate in the social insurance system and thus to pay contributions to SOKA-BAU. SOKA-BAU is the common name for the vacation and wage compensation fund for the construction industry (ULAK) and the additional pension fund for the construction industry VVaG (ZVK). SOKA-BAU is based in Wiesbaden. The Wiesbaden Labor Court is responsible for all lawsuits against companies in the West, Berlin for the East. The holiday fund (ULAK) has existed since 1949. SOKA-BAU is actually not responsible for bankruptcies, but rather for social benefits in the construction industry. However, the reality is different. However, entrepreneurs from neighboring sectors associate the abbreviation more with a threat than with social benefits. With hefty contribution demands, the fund causes unsuspecting companies to have payment difficulties. Several thousand cases are pending against Soka-Bau before the relevant labor courts in Wiesbaden and Berlin. The demands of Soka-Bau often lead to economic ruin. The companies are at the mercy and powerless – legally they have no chance against the social security fund without a lawyer who is experienced in the field of Soka construction. Companies that provide other commercial construction services depending on the type and purpose of their activity and their operational structure. These companies include, among others, those who carry out the following work:

  • waterproofing work against moisture,
  • Aptation and drainage work, such as the drainage of land and land areas to be reclaimed, including ditch clearing and fascination work, the laying of drainage pipelines and the construction of outfall and lock systems,
  • Asbestos removal work on buildings and parts of buildings (e.g. removing, solidifying, coating asbestos products),
  • Building drying work, i.e. work that acts on the structure of the masonry to dehumidify, including using plastics or chemical agents and by installing capacitors,
  • Concrete and reinforced concrete work including concrete protection and concrete renovation work as well as reinforcement work,
  • drilling work,
  • well construction work,
  • Chemical soil consolidation,
  • Insulation (insulation) work (e.g. heat, cold, sound insulation, sound absorption, sound improvement, sound finishing work) including attachment of substructures,
  • Earthmoving work (road construction, land reclamation, land reclamation, dike construction work, torrent and avalanche control, sports facility construction and construction of noise barriers and side reinforcements on traffic routes),
  • Screed work (using cement, asphalt, anhydrite, magnesite, plaster, plastics or similar materials),
  • facade construction work,
  • Prefabricated construction work: Installing or assembling prefabricated components for the construction, repair, maintenance or modification of buildings, as well as the production of prefabricated components if these are predominantly carried out by the company, another company of the same company or within company mergers – regardless of the legal form chosen be merged or incorporated into the operation of at least one participating shareholder,
  • Firing and furnace construction work,
  • Tile, slab and mosaic, attachment and laying work,
  • Jointing work on buildings, in particular jointing of facing masonry and connections between built-in parts and masonry as well as permanently elastic and permanently plastic joints of all kinds,
  • Glass reinforced concrete work as well as bricking and laying glass blocks,
  • track construction work,
  • Manufacture of non-storable building materials, such as concrete and furniture mixtures (ready-mixed concrete and ready-made mortar), if the majority of the building materials produced are used for the construction sites of the manufacturing company, another company of the same company or within company mergers – regardless of the chosen legal form – the construction sites of the company at least one participating shareholder is provided for,
  • building construction work,
  • Wood protection work on components,
  • Sewer construction (sewer construction) work,
  • masonry work,
  • piling work,
  • Pipeline construction, pipeline civil engineering, cable line civil engineering work and soil pressing,
  • Shaft construction and tunnel construction work,
  • formwork work,
  • chimney construction work,
  • Blasting, demolition and debris removal work,
  • Steel bending and braiding work, insofar as it is carried out to provide other structural services of the company,
  • Staker work,
  • Road construction work (stone, asphalt, concrete, black road construction work, road marking work, as well as production and preparation of the mix, provided that the majority of the mix is handled by the company, another company of the same company or within company mergers – regardless of the legal form chosen – the company at least of a participating partner) as well as paving work of all kinds,
  • road rolling works,
  • Stucco, plaster, plaster and rabitz work, including the attachment of substructures and plaster supports,
  • terrazzo work,
  • civil engineering work,
  • Dry and assembly work (e.g. wall and ceiling installation or cladding), including the attachment of substructures and plaster supports,
  • Laying floor coverings in conjunction with other construction services,
  • Renting construction machines with operating personnel if the construction machines with operating personnel are used to provide construction services,
  • Thermal insulation composite system work,
  • Waterworks construction work, dewatering work, hydraulic engineering work (e.g. waterway construction, water basin construction, lock system construction),
  • Carpentry and wood construction work carried out as part of the carpentry industry.

Companies in which the following work is carried out:

  • Erecting scaffolding and construction hoists;
  • building and iron protection work;
  • Technical insulation work, in particular work on technical systems, unless covered under Section II or III, including insulation work on land, aircraft and water vehicles.
  • Also included are those companies which, within the framework of a merger with one or more companies in the construction industry – regardless of the legal form chosen – either exclusively or predominantly take over the commercial administration, sales, planning work, laboratory work or testing work for the affiliated companies in the construction industry or operate the construction yard and/or workshop to a not insignificant extent (at least a quarter of the company’s working hours), provided that these companies are not covered by a special collective agreement.

Companies that predominantly carry out the work listed generally fall within the scope of the social security collective agreement as a whole. Companies expressly not included:

  • the industry producing concrete goods and terrazzo goods,
  • the roofing trade,
  • the scaffolding industry, whose activities primarily involve the commercial construction of scaffolding,
  • the glazier’s craft,
  • the stove and oven fitting trade, unless work of the type listed under points 3 or 4 is carried out,
  • the painting and varnishing trade, unless work of the type listed under points 3 or 4 is carried out,
  • the natural stone and natural stone industry, unless work of the type listed under points 1 to 4 is carried out,
  • dredging, which are covered by the framework collective agreement for the dredging industry,
  • the parquet laying trade,
  • the acid farming industry,
  • the carpentry trade as well as the woodworking and processing industry, unless prefabricated construction, insulation, drywall and assembly work or carpentry work is carried out,
  • the plumbing trade, the gas and water installation trade, the electrical installation trade, the central heating and ventilation construction trade and the air conditioning construction trade, unless work of the type listed under points 3 or 4 is carried out,
  • the stonemasonry trade, insofar as the activities listed in § 1 number 2.1 of the collective agreement on inter-company old-age and disability allowance in the stonemasonry and stone carving trade of December 1st, 1986 in the version of August 28th, 1992 are predominantly carried out,

since separate collective agreements and other social security systems intervene in these craft sectors. Take precautions! Get advice now!