u/Low-Signature-2645

Hey everyone, looking for a quick sanity check on a German labor dispute/negotiation.

I’m a developer contracted and paid at a junior/mid level. However, for the past 12 months, I’ve been entirely performing project coordinator duties.

• When I took over, the founder publicly announced to the team via Slack: "X is transitioning to the role of project coordinator similarly to Y's [male colleague] role."
• This male colleague was hired after me directly into the highest tier and gets paid significantly more. While his higher pay also covered team leadership and other technical tasks on the side, the founder explicitly equated my responsibilities to his coordination role. Even though they publicly matched our responsibilities for this specific function, my pay was never adjusted to account for the upgrade.
• I have written Slack messages from HR acknowledging I performed these coordinating tasks.
• I also have a formal recommendation letter signed by the Managing Partner explicitly praising my "coordination and execution" and stating I am transitioning into a "broader leadership role."

During a recent corporate restructure, HR told me my coordinator role is "no longer needed," trying to push me back to pure dev work at my lower salary, claiming I'm not "fit" for leadership titles.

But here is the kicker: the company is currently in the middle of a multi-million euro acquisition by an investor, and the deal officially closes at the end of this month.

Has anyone used an active M&A deadline or an Equal Pay claim as leverage for a severance negotiation in Germany? How did the employer react?