Germany has relatively strict employment and labor laws: Many provisions have a special emphasis on protecting employees. However, these laws also provide clear guidance for employers on individual employment contracts, employee benefits and entitlements, and rules around termination and dismissal.
Employment law: Basic information
In Germany, all laws and regulations concerning work are summarised in labour law. The protection of workers plays a key role in this. For example, labour law gives you comprehensive rights in relation to your employment contract, wages and holidays.
Termination of the employment relationship
You or your employer may terminate your seasonal employment relationship early. The notice periods to be observed are stated in your employment contract. Your employment may only be terminated without notice in specific cases.
A notice of termination is only valid if it can be proven to have been handed over. This is the case when a notice of termination exists as a written document and has been signed by both parties. A notice of termination is also valid if a witness was present when notice was given or handed over as a written document. Notice of termination by email is not deemed to be written notice of termination and is therefore invalid.
Working hours
The average working hours in Germany is 8 hours per day. This can be extended to up to 10 hours per day for a short period. A rest period of 11 hours is normally prescribed between 2 shifts.
Breaks
If you work between 6 to 9 hours a day, you are entitled to a 30-minute break after no later than 6 hours. If you work more than 9 hours a day, the break is extended to 45 minutes. Labour law prohibits taking the break at the end of the day’s work in order to leave earlier.
Breaks are not considered working time and are therefore not paid.
Holidays
Even as a seasonal worker, you are entitled to paid leave. This is at least 2 days for each month in which you work full time. The holiday pay may also be paid to you at the end of your period of employment if you have agreed this with your employer in advance.
If you work on Sundays or public holidays, your employer must offer you a corresponding number of days off in lieu within 8 weeks.
Wages
A minimum wage is mandatory for all employees in Germany. This means no employer may pay less than this hourly wage. Since 1 January 2022, the minimum wage has been EUR 9.82 per hour gross. This means before taxes and other charges are deducted from this amount.
Even if you have agreed a piecework rate with your employer, you may not earn less than the statutory minimum wage.
Your employer must also give you a pay slip. This lists the tax amounts that will be deducted from your gross wage. If your employer provides accommodation, the cost for this may also be deducted from your wages. The corresponding amount must also be shown on the pay slip.
German or American: Which labor law is better?
The recent terminations at Twitter have once again shown how different the protection against dismissal is in German and American labor law.
U.S. employees will probably receive continued pay for 60 days, or two months, under the WARN Act, and that’s it. If Elon Musk offers the dismissed employees (instead) a severance payment amounting to three months’ salary, that is considered quite fair by American standards. After all, Musk is paying 50% more than he has to.
In Germany, we would rather draw up a social plan that grants the dismissed employees (at least) 1 gross month’s salary per year of service as severance pay, in addition to compliance with the notice period.
Where do these differences come from, and which system is actually better?
10 Important Facts About the 2022 Works-Council Elections
A works council in Germany is elected by employees and the conduct and procedure of the election is a matter for them too. Nevertheless, the employer usually has an interest in the proper conduct of the election.
An incorrect election procedure could result in higher costs for it, as well as unclear and unstable conditions in day-to-day dealings with the council and any collective agreements (“works agreements”) negotiated with representatives elected in an unlawful ballot.
Due to new case law and recent changes to the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), the election procedure has been simplified. Employers are well advised to familiarize themselves with the recent amendments regarding the election process in good time to avoid subsequent disputes about the validity of the ballot.
Dealing with the Works Council
In this video Dr. Gerlind Wisskirchen explains 5 principles you should abide by when dealing with the works council in Germany. The German works council system is quite unique in the world, and many companies complain about their dealings with the works council.
Most companies consider it as a daily, almost tedious task to deal with the works council, and they find it extremely difficult to get to results. By abiding by all these principles, you can do much better with dealing with works councils!
Head of Wichtig (important)
Cordelia Röders-Arnold is Head of Menstruation. It’s also on her business card – if she writes it down. Because at Einhorn, a Berlin start-up that manufactures vegan, sustainable condoms and period products, everyone can call themselves whatever they want. As long as it conveys what he is doing.
Röders-Arnold takes care of everything to do with the menstrual cycle at Einhorn – she develops products, takes care of distribution, sales, social media. “The job title was originally just a gag,” she says. “But I am now convinced that it is precisely on this basis of amused interest that one arouses interest in sustainable alternatives and breaks with social taboos.”
Oakland, California Homeless
Oakland California sure does have a homeless problem. Driving around town, there’s homeless encampments all over the place. They’re on the side of the roads in dirt lots. There’s long stretches of them on sidewalks. Some of them are tents, some are RVs, some are actual encampments with makeshift structures where hundreds of people gather in communities.
It’s estimated there’s around 5,000 homeless individuals throughout the city of Oakland, but no one really knows the exact number. And the number of people on the streets in Oakland has nearly doubled in the last two years alone.
Rich Girl vs Poor Girl
This social experiment was done to see how people react differently to a Rich girl and a poor girl.
YouTube comments:
“We’re living in a world where the rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer.”
“They donated to the rich girl because she was hot, and dressed well.”
“I used to know a homeless man who would beg near a McDonalds. He was a really great person, and I would always donate some money. My dad even bought him a tent. Whenever I was near the McDonalds, I never really saw people who were looking to help him. Maybe they thought it was unimportant because he already had a tent, or maybe they didn’t have money, or they just didn’t want to donate. Eventually he was finally able to find a job (at that McDonalds to be exact) and he was able to sell his tent, add that money to what he had already, and buy himself a car! I haven’t seen him for a few years, but I hope that he is doing better in life.”
New green card system to tackle shortage of skilled workers
December 2022. The German cabinet agreed in principle to immigration reform in a bid to secure more skilled workers. Europe’s biggest economy is currently experiencing a lack of roughly half a million people to its workforce and wants to make up for the shortfall.
The federal government said it wanted to boost immigration and training to tackle a skills shortage which is hampering the country’s economy at a time of weakening growth. Meanwhile, an aging population is increasing pressure on the public pension system.
Germany is also keen on granting immigrants from the Western Balkan countries that are not in the EU, such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, access to their job market for an unlimited amount of time. The proposals to amend the Skilled Immigration Act, first introduced in March 2020, include an “opportunity card” for jobseekers.
YouTube comments:
“Germany is a great country to move — But living in Germany is difficult, salary is relatively low, bureaucrats, high taxes, immigrants can never feel german even of they acquire citizenship. In Canada you feel Canadian right after you arrive there. Germans are not that open minded as people from English speaking countries. Language barrier is real!”
“The title should be the shortage of CHEAP labor shortage.”
“That is fantastic news for US citizens, cuz i don’t think any US citizen want to give up their citizenship for any other country. US allows dual citizenship. I am sure many Americans would love to live in a social democratic country.”
“The solution is simple, make English the 2nd official language along with German. It would facilitate literally EVERYTHING in an instant. Plus, It would be a safe bet that skilled workers would come in droves! What happens is, understandbly so, most workers prefer to exclusively migrate to countries in whom they don’t have to start to study a new language from scratch to be able to integrate and maybe after a decade will be successful at filing their tax reports in German. Examples are Malta, Singapore and a few others. It would make Germany 50 times as attractive for international job seekers who would traditionally rather opt for Canada or UK….or if they happen to be plastic surgeons or Astronauts with half a mil in the bank: the US.”
New York City rich and poor
January 2021 Even before COVID-19, New York was already defined by a gap between the rich and poor. Yet during the pandemic, wealth has become a determinant of survival. The pandemic hit New York in the spring, with almost 800 people dying from COVID-19 each day in April.
The city has been uneasy since then. People’s lives have been shaken by months of stay-at-home orders, changing public health measures, “Black Lives Matter” protests, the presidential election, and above all the economic consequences of the pandemic, including ever-widening inequality between New Yorkers.