Duden gives the word privat three meanings. The first is about one’s own person. The second is nicht offiziell, nicht amtlich, nicht geschäftlich; außerdienstlich, not official, not governmental, not business, off-duty.
Ich bin privat hier. — I am here privately, not in my professional role.
Das ist meine Privatsache. — That is my private matter.
Berufliches und Privates trennen — to keep the professional and the private apart
dienstlich, außerdienstlich — on duty, off duty
An employee in Germany who is ill gets a certificate of incapacity for work from a doctor. The part meant for the employer shows no diagnosis. The union IG Metall explains: Gegen Deinen Willen hat der Arbeitgeber keinen Anspruch darauf zu erfahren, welche Krankheit Du hast. Against your will, the employer has no right to know which illness you have. The paper form was known as der gelbe Schein, the yellow slip. Since the start of 2023, the certificate is mostly electronic.
On 10 September 2009 the Federal Labor Court ruled that a municipal worker’s off-duty drug offenses did not justify his dismissal. A labor law firm summarized the principle: Den Arbeitgeber hat es deshalb grundsätzlich nicht zu interessieren, ob der Arbeitnehmer „privat“ eine Straftat begeht. As a rule, it is not the employer’s concern whether the employee commits a crime in private. The court noted that the result could differ for employees with official or representative duties. German law calls this außerdienstliches Verhalten, off-duty conduct. There is an exception when off-duty conduct harms the employment relationship. In 2017 VfB Stuttgart and its player Kevin Großkreutz parted by mutual agreement after he was involved in a fight in his free time.
In August 2022, the Hamburger Abendblatt criticized the television host Kai Pflaume. That he said du to the candidates on his quiz show might still be acceptable, the writer said. But he also addressed an older woman from the studio audience, a stranger to him, with du and her first name. The newspaper called it das plump-vertrauliche Du, the crudely familiar du.
German courts weigh violations of personal rights with a model of spheres. The Federal Agency for Civic Education describes four of them. The Intimsphäre, the intimate sphere, holds a person’s innermost thoughts and feelings. It is almost untouchable. The Privatsphäre, the private sphere, covers private life and the whole area of home and family. The Sozialsphäre, the social sphere, is the side of a person that others can easily see. The examples given include social contacts, a visit to the cinema and das berufliche Umfeld, the professional environment. This sphere has far less protection. The Öffentlichkeitssphäre, the public sphere, has the least. In this model, a person’s working life sits in an outer sphere, and home and family sit in an inner one.
On 6 February 2003 the Federal Labor Court ruled on a question that employers may not ask. Stiftung Warentest summarized the ruling: Die Frage nach der Schwangerschaft ist unzulässig. Wenn ein Arbeitgeber sie dennoch stellt, darf die Bewerberin lügen. The question about pregnancy is not allowed. If an employer asks it anyway, the applicant may lie. This holds even when a pregnant woman may not do the job at first. Questions about membership in a party or a union are also not allowed. The legal news site LTO calls this eine Lizenz zum Lügen, a license to lie. In practice, a job interview may cover the work, but not family plans or political ties.
The Goethe-Institut teaches German to beginners around the world. Its worksheet Du oder Sie? explains: Das formelle „Sie“ benutzen Erwachsene, die sich nicht oder noch nicht gut kennen. Adults who do not know each other, or do not know each other well yet, use the formal Sie. For the workplace it gives one rule: Als neuer Mitarbeiter müssen Sie warten, bis Ihnen das „du“ angeboten wird. As a new employee, you must wait until you are offered the du. The Hamburger Abendblatt gave the same advice in 2014: Neulinge sollten immer darauf warten, dass Kollegen oder Vorgesetzte ihnen das Du anbieten. Newcomers should always wait for colleagues or superiors to offer them the du. Chiara M. Meidinger, a board member of the German Knigge Society, says who makes the offer. In private life it is the older person, and at work the higher-ranking one.
A guide for students at the University of Trier gives the correct written forms: Sehr geehrter Herr Professor Knodel and Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Freudenreich. It adds that many a chief physician would not let even a patient call him merely Herr Doktor instead of Herr Professor. A guide on e-mail etiquette used at Goethe University Frankfurt tells students: Wenn Ihre Lehrenden akademische Titel führen, sollten Sie sie verwenden. If your teachers hold academic titles, you should use them. A first name is appropriate only once the addressee has explicitly offered the du. Erst dann ist die informelle Variante Liebe/r <Vorname> angemessen. Only then is the informal form Dear followed by the first name appropriate. The doctorate even appears on the German identity card. The identity card law lists the Doktorgrad, the doctoral degree, among the few details printed on the card.
The Trier guide for students tells of a professor who at first said du to her staff. Over the years she found that younger staff found it increasingly hard to say du to a respected and older superior. She also found that it is much easier to criticize staff, to warn them or even to dismiss them, when one is on Sie terms with them. According to the guide, most professors therefore switch at some point in their careers to an obligatory Sie with new staff, if they have not used it from the start. The guide also says who makes the first move. A research assistant would hardly offer the du to the head of department, but the other way round would be more conceivable.
In July 2021, as the new coach of Bayern Munich, Julian Nagelsmann told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag: Die Spieler dürfen mich gerne duzen, ich höre meinen Vornamen tatsächlich auch lieber als meinen Nachnamen. The players are welcome to say du to me, I actually prefer hearing my first name to my last name. He added: Siezen oder duzen ist für mich in den modernen Zeiten kein Indikator mehr für Autorität oder nicht. For me, in modern times, Sie or du is no longer an indicator of authority. Even here, the offer of the du came from the coach.