A party who does not appear at a hearing in a German civil court can lose without the case being heard. The court issues a Versäumnisurteil, a judgment by default. The law sets no waiting period. By custom, courts wait 10 to 15 minutes after the case is called. On 5 July 2013, a hearing at the regional court of Dessau-Roßlau was set for 10 a.m. The judge issued a default judgment that dismissed the claim. The plaintiff’s lawyer entered the courtroom at 10:04 and objected that the customary wait had not been kept. The plaintiff then asked for the judge to be removed for bias. In 2014 the Higher Regional Court of Naumburg upheld the rejection of that request. It found that the judge’s view, that a default judgment may follow directly after the case is called, could be called mistaken, but that it was not a sign of bias.
One Warning, Then the Floor Is Gone
In the Bundestag, speaking time is shared out by agreement before the debate. The rules of procedure then say what happens to a member who runs over. The president soll ihm nach einmaliger Mahnung das Wort entziehen, should take away the floor after one warning. The Bundestag’s own glossary says that the chair watches the speaking time streng, strictly. On 16 October 2025, the AfD leader Alice Weidel spoke after a government statement by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and went over her time. According to Focus, President Julia Klöckner told her that her time was up. Weidel answered with a simple Danke and kept talking. Klöckner warned her several times and finally threatened to switch off her microphone.
A Penalty for Each Day of Delay
A German construction contract can tie the builder to the completion date with a Vertragsstrafe, a contractual penalty. Under Section 339 of the Civil Code, the penalty is incurred as soon as the debtor is in default. In a case decided by the Federal Court of Justice in February 2024, the clause set 0.2 percent of the contract sum for every working day of delay, up to 5 percent in total. The court had held in 2003 that a penalty of 5 percent of the contract sum is just about permissible. In 2024 it struck down the clause for another reason. The sum on which the penalty was calculated was only provisional.
The Missed Train
Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung, The Metamorphosis, published in 1915, begins with Gregor Samsa waking up as a giant insect. His first worry is not his body. It is the clock. Es war halb sieben Uhr, und die Zeiger gingen ruhig vorwärts. It was half past six, and the hands were moving calmly on. His train had left at five, and the next one would leave at seven. Gregor thinks of his firm, which suspects the worst at the smallest failure. Then the firm’s chief clerk arrives at the apartment in person. He tells Gregor through the door: Und Ihre Stellung ist durchaus nicht die festeste. And your position is by no means the most secure. In five years of service, Gregor had not once been ill.
Always On Time
Since 26 December 1952, Germany’s main evening news, the Tagesschau, has run on ARD. For decades its place has been fixed at exactly 8 p.m., opened by a gong. In 2020 and 2021, more than 11.6 million people watched it on average. At its 60th anniversary in 2012, Georg Mascolo, then editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel, described it this way: Immer pünktlich, immer zuverlässig, fast immer fehlerfrei und ein kleines bisschen humorlos. Always on time, always reliable, almost always without errors, and a tiny bit humorless. He called it the Glockenschlag der Republik, the stroke of the bell of the republic.
Lateness Can Cost the Job
In German labor law, coming late is not a small matter. In 1988, the Federal Labor Court ruled that repeated lateness can in itself justify dismissal without notice, once it amounts to a persistent refusal to work. In 2021, the state labor court of Schleswig-Holstein upheld the dismissal of an employee with more than 13 years of service. The employee had come to work much too late, or not at all, on three of four consecutive working days, after one oral warning.
A Euro a Minute
German sports teams put a price on lateness. In 2024, Borussia Dortmund’s catalog of fines for the 2023–24 season spread on social media. Coming late to training, team routines or meetings cost 100 euros per minute. Coming late on match day cost 3,000 euros. Missing a club appointment cost 5,000 euros. The German women’s handball team at the 2025 home World Championship kept a smaller list. Whoever came late paid one euro, per minute.
Sayings About Time
Fünf Minuten vor der Zeit ist des Soldaten Pünktlichkeit.
Five minutes before the time is the soldier’s punctuality. A common variant says des Deutschen, the German’s.
Wer nicht kommt zur rechten Zeit, der muss sehn, was übrig bleibt.
Whoever does not come at the right time must see what is left over. It is said at the table.
Pünktlichkeit ist die Höflichkeit der Könige.
Punctuality is the politeness of kings. The saying is French in origin, L’exactitude est la politesse des rois, and is attributed to King Louis XVIII. The French word is exactitude, exactness.
Concerns in Writing
The standard German terms for construction contracts, the VOB/B, set out what a contractor must do with a doubt. If he has concerns about the planned method, the materials supplied or another firm’s work, he must tell the client unverzüglich – möglichst schon vor Beginn der Arbeiten – schriftlich: without delay, if possible before work begins, and in writing (§ 4(3)). This document is the Bedenkenanzeige. A contractor whose work is obstructed must also report it in writing without delay (§ 6(1)). If he does not, he can claim the obstruction later only if the client clearly knew about it anyway. The contractor must also prove that he gave notice.
Four Everyday Duties to Report
Four everyday rules use the same word, unverzüglich, without culpable delay.
An employee who is sick must tell the employer unverzüglich that he cannot work and how long he expects to be away. If the illness lasts more than three calendar days, he must present a doctor’s certificate on the next working day at the latest (§ 5 EntgFG).
A tenant who finds a defect in the apartment must report it to the landlord unverzüglich. A tenant who does not report it must pay for the damage that follows (§ 536c BGB).
An employee who notices an immediate, serious danger to safety and health, or a defect in a protective system, must report it unverzüglich to the employer or the responsible supervisor (§ 16 ArbSchG).
A student who misses an exam because of illness must hand in a withdrawal and a medical certificate unverzüglich. At the University of Duisburg-Essen, a withdrawal within three days of the missed exam, not counting Sundays and holidays, usually still counts as unverzüglich. If the reason is not accepted, the exam is graded nicht ausreichend (5,0), a fail.