Das Betriebsverfassungsgesetz gives the works council co-determination rights over working hours, overtime, holiday scheduling, monitoring of employees, and the rules of conduct in the workplace. On these matters the employer cannot act alone. Not consultation — agreement.
Severance by formula
German severance — Abfindung — is customarily calculated at half a month’s salary per year of service, and the formula is used in settlements and named in statute for certain dismissals. Length of service converts directly into money at a rate everyone knows before the conversation starts.
The social plan
Der Sozialplan. Where a German employer restructures in a way that disadvantages employees, the works council can require a negotiated agreement compensating those affected. If the two sides cannot agree, a conciliation board decides and its decision binds. The employer cannot simply proceed.
The lifetime civil servant
German civil servants are appointed for life — Beamte auf Lebenszeit. Roughly 1.7 million people hold the status, and it cannot be ended except by criminal conviction or disciplinary proceedings. Teachers, police, tax officials, many university staff. In exchange the Beamter gives up the right to strike.
The state offers permanence as the consideration.
The service anniversary
Das Dienstjubiläum. German companies formally mark ten, twenty-five and forty years of service — with a ceremony, a certificate, often a payment provided for in the collective agreement. Forty years with one employer is a milestone the institution is organised to celebrate.
Belonging to the company
Belonging-to-the-company. A single German noun for length of service, and it carries legal weight in notice periods, redundancy selection, severance calculations and pension entitlements. The word is not about time elapsed. It is about belonging, and the law treats the belonging as something that accrues.
Firm employment
Permanent employment. Fest means firm, solid, fixed — the same word used of a building’s foundation and of a firmly held conviction. Eine feste Stelle haben is a statement about one’s position in life, not only about a contract.
The unlimited contract
The German word for a permanent contract is unbefristet — unlimited, without an end date. The fixed-term contract is befristet, limited. The permanent one is named by what it lacks. The ending is the exception, and the language treats its absence as the normal state.
Notice periods
Kündigungsfristen. German statutory notice periods lengthen with service: from four weeks at the start, rising by steps, to seven months for someone with twenty years behind them. Time served converts into legal protection at a fixed exchange rate written in the Civil Code.
The works council
Der Betriebsrat. A German works council must be heard before any dismissal, and the employer must give it the reasons. A dismissal issued without that consultation is void. Not contestable — void.