Thursday, March 21, 2013

Employment Contracts in Germany

In general, working contracts can be written up freely between Employee and Employer. The employment contract can be a "word-agreement" but for legal reasons and simply a matter of proof it is always advisable to write the contract up and sign it. If a contract has not been written up,the employer then has a maximum of 1 Month (31 days) to write up the agreements after the employee started.

The language of the contract can be independently chosen,nevertheless it has to be translated into german if court cases etc. should occur, in order to avoid misunderstandings.

The Contract includes following elements:


- Start and (possibly) termination date

- Location of employment

- Short description of the tasks during the  employment period

- Agreed shifts/working hours

- Duration of annual private holidays

- Periods of notice

- Collective Bargaining agreements in force,etc.

- A termination date always MUST be written on  the contract, if not,the contract is automatically permanent



Borderlines to the freedom of the Contract


The individual drawing up of a working contract is restricted by the following :

- several legal regulations (minimum wage,maximum   hours, etc.)

- Collective Bargaining agreement rights aplly  imperatively to Employer and Employee

- Regulations within the enterprise apply compellingly for employee



Probation Period

The period of duration can take up to 6 months. During the time of probation the period of notice is 2 weeks unlees other agreements were made on paper.



Working Period


The working hours must not exceed 8 hours/day and 48 hours per week. Extention of working hours is possible up to 10 hours a day,if within 6 months after the "longer day" the company compensates the extra hours by either payment or holiday. Current working contracts in germany ususally include a weekly amount of hours from 35-40 hours.
After 6 hours of work, the company must grant a 30 min. brake, after 9 hours a 45 min. brake.
A single brake has to be at least 15 minutes long .
The daily rest period counts 11 hours.


Private Holidays


The law states an annual amount of 4 weeks paid holiday. (only sheduled work days off,are counted as holidays => 5 days a week,weekends do not count as holidays)


Reasons for employment termination

An employee can, in a businees of at least 10 employees, within 3 weeks after receiving the terminatiuon letter, initiate a court case against his employer for sozial adversity infront of the labour court. Reasons for employment termination can be of personal provenance or can have its origin in working performance of the employee.


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