Switching Off Archives - understand-culture

On Holiday, the Employee Decides Whether to Answer

On 4 December 2025 the Federal Labor Court ruled on a dismissal without notice. A train manager was accused of sexually harassing a colleague on duty. The complaint came while he was on rest days, followed by annual leave. The employer waited until he was back before hearing him. By then the two-week deadline for such a dismissal had passed, and the dismissal was invalid. The court said that leave does not mean an absolute ban on contacting an employee, and that the employer should at least have tried. But it is the employee who decides ob und wie er auf einen entsprechenden Kontaktversuch des Arbeitgebers reagiert, whether and how he responds to such an attempt. If he declines to comment because he is on holiday, there are as a rule special circumstances, and the hearing can wait until he returns.

Contact is allowed. An answer is not owed.

Not Reachable Except in a Crisis

In 2014 Deutsche Telekom said that since 2010 it had had a policy recommending that managers avoid sending e-mails after the end of the working day, for example at weekends. In 2013 the Goethe-Institut described the company’s self-commitment: müssen die Arbeitnehmer außer in Krisensituationen in ihrer Freizeit nicht erreichbar sein, except in crisis situations, employees need not be reachable in their free time. In 2013, at the energy company E.on, no business e-mail was allowed from 20 minutes after the end of the working day. BMW chose a different route: Wir haben uns im Wesentlichen für Vertrauen und gegen starre Regeln entschieden. We have essentially decided for trust and against rigid rules.

Off Sick Means Staying Home

An employee on sick leave was invited by his employer to a meeting about where he could work in the future. He did not come and received a written warning. On 2 November 2016 the Federal Labor Court ruled that the warning had to be removed. An employee who is unable to work because of illness is as a rule not obliged to appear at the workplace on the employer’s instruction. The exception is a case where his presence is urgently necessary for operational reasons. The employer may write to him and ask him to get in touch if he is interested.

The Home for the Evening of Life

In the GDR, a home for the elderly was called a Feierabendheim, an end-of-work home. The word treats old age as the Feierabend after a working life. Duden still lists the word, as a regional term for Altenheim, a home for the elderly.

Loriot’s Feierabend

In Loriot’s cartoon sketch Feierabend, one of his Szenen einer Ehe (Scenes from a Marriage), a husband sits in his armchair while his wife cleans the home. He wants to do nothing at all. The line appears in collections of Loriot’s best-known quotations: Ich möchte nur hier sitzen! I just want to sit here!

God Rested on the Seventh Day

Genesis 2:2 in the Luther Bible (2017 revision) reads: Und so vollendete Gott am siebenten Tage seine Werke, die er machte, und ruhte am siebenten Tage von allen seinen Werken, die er gemacht hatte. And so God finished his works on the seventh day, and he rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had made. The verse names the completed work first, and only then the rest.

Eight of Fifteen Missing

In August 2013 the signal box at Mainz main station could not be fully staffed. Of its 15 employees, five were sick and three on holiday, according to Bild am Sonntag. For about two weeks, trains had to be rerouted or were canceled. A labor lawyer explained to the legal portal LTO: Eine rechtliche Verpflichtung der Mitarbeiter, vorzeitig aus dem Urlaub zurückzukommen, gibt es aber nicht. There is no legal duty for employees to return early from holiday. Deutsche Bahn’s chief executive, Rüdiger Grube, apologized in public. A railway spokesman said: Zusätzliche personelle Kapazitäten gibt es nicht. There are no additional staff.

Eight Hours of Work

On 1 May 1890, workers in the German Reich demonstrated for the eight-hour day for the first time, together with workers in other countries. The public broadcasters’ knowledge program Planet Wissen gives the old slogan of the eight-hour movement, first raised by construction workers in Australia in 1856, in German as Acht Stunden Arbeit, acht Stunden Erholung, acht Stunden Ruhe, eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, eight hours of rest. In 1894 Rosa Luxemburg wrote: Der 1. Mai verkündet die Losung des achtstündigen Arbeitstages. May Day proclaims the slogan of the eight-hour working day. In November 1918 the Council of People’s Deputies introduced the eight-hour day by decree. Employers’ associations and unions had agreed on it beforehand in the Stinnes-Legien Agreement. In December 1923 a new decree kept eight hours as the norm but allowed many exceptions.

No Duty to Answer While Sick

An employee in Germany who is on sick leave must report the illness to the employer. He does not have to stay available. In September 2026 a legal expert of the insurer ARAG explained that there is no general duty to be reachable by phone or e-mail at all times during sick leave. A legal-advice portal adds that a short piece of information can be required in special cases. Long handovers, long calls and video conferences are, as a rule, not owed.

Overtime as a Warning Sign

Some German career and business media describe regular overtime as a sign that something is wrong in the organization. In January 2023 the tech magazine t3n called overtime ein Warnsignal, a warning sign. Now and then it is acceptable, the author wrote, but dauerhaft ist das ein Zeichen dafür, dass Dinge schieflaufen. Over time, it is a sign that things are going wrong. In July 2025 the HR magazine Personalwirtschaft wrote that many experts see overtime as a sign of poor leadership. The same article also noted: In vielen Chefetagen gelten Überstunden noch immer als Ausweis besonderen Engagements. In many executive suites, overtime still counts as proof of special commitment.