A federal noise regulation, the Geräte- und Maschinenlärmschutzverordnung, sets quiet times for machines used outdoors. In residential areas, the machines it lists may not be run at all on Sundays and public holidays, and not between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. on weekdays. The list includes lawn mowers and leaf blowers. It also includes bottle banks, so the glass containers in residential areas may not be used on Sundays. Some of the loudest garden machines, such as leaf blowers, are also restricted on weekday mornings, at midday and in the early evening, unless they carry the EU eco-label. The midday rest, the Mittagsruhe, is not set in federal or state law. It is set, if at all, in leases, house rules or local bylaws.
The Home Behind the Filter
In a representative survey by the digital association Bitkom in January 2021, one in four said they deliberately avoid showing their home on video calls. They use a background photo or a filter. More than half said they dress up for video conferences on purpose, even when working from home.
Duty Is Duty
Dienst ist Dienst, und Schnaps ist Schnaps. — Duty is duty, and schnapps is schnapps. The dictionary DWDS explains: duty and pleasure must be strictly kept apart.
Feierabend machen — to make the evening of rest. Duden: to stop the day’s work.
nach Feierabend — after the end of the working day, in one’s free time
Free Time With Colleagues
In 2009 the job portal Monster asked its users: Verbringen Sie Ihre Freizeit auch mit Kollegen? Do you also spend your free time with colleagues? In Germany, 33 percent answered that they strictly separate professional and private life. 40 percent said they now and then do something together as a group. 27 percent said their colleagues belong to their circle of friends. The survey was not representative. It reflects the views of Monster’s users.
The Boss’s Friend Request
In a Forsa survey for the digital association Bitkom, reported in January 2012, 56 percent of the employees among the respondents said they decline a friend request from their boss. Forsa had asked 1,002 German-speaking internet users. Bitkom’s Tobias Arns said: Die Privatsphäre der Mitarbeiter muss der Chef auch im Web akzeptieren. The boss must accept the employees’ private sphere on the web too. A later Bitkom survey, reported in 2014, found that only 5 percent were already friends with their boss online.
Private Means Off-Duty
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
A Sick Note Without a Diagnosis
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.
Off-Duty Conduct
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.
Too Familiar
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.
Four Spheres of a Person
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.