Under the old collective agreement for the German public sector, the BAT, pay rose with age, every two years. The new agreements replaced age steps with Erfahrungsstufen, experience steps. In 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that the old age steps were age discrimination, and that the move to the new system was lawful. In the agreement for the states’ employees, a new hire with no relevant experience starts at step 1. At least one year of relevant experience with the same employer is credited. At least one year of relevant experience with another employer brings entry at step 2 at most, or at step 3 after at least three years. The steps then rise after one, two, three, four and five years of uninterrupted work in the same pay group with the same employer.
law
Three Years Before a Judge Is Appointed for Life
Passing both state law exams qualifies a German lawyer to be a judge. It does not make him a judge for life. Under the German Judges Act, a judge can be appointed for life only after at least three years in judicial service. Until then, he usually serves as a judge on probation. Within five years at the latest, a judge on probation must be appointed either a judge for life or a public prosecutor for life, unless he has been dismissed.
Foreign Qualifications Are Checked
A professional qualification earned abroad is not simply accepted in Germany. Since 1 April 2012, the Professional Qualifications Assessment Act has set out how it is checked. The responsible body compares it with the German qualification and declares it equivalent if there are no essential differences. Gaps can be made up by relevant professional experience, but only if that experience is proven. For regulated professions, recognition remains a condition for working. For others, it is voluntary.
Years Before Each Rank
In the Bundeswehr, rank comes with time. The soldiers’ career regulation sets minimum periods for officers, counted from their appointment as lieutenant. Promotion to captain is allowed after five years. Promotion to major is allowed after nine years. Even for flying personnel, combat swimmers and the special forces, these periods are shortened by only six months.
Minimum Ages for the Highest Courts
A judge of the Federal Constitutional Court must be at least 40 years old. A judge of the Federal Court of Justice, the highest court for civil and criminal cases, must be at least 35.
No Professor From the Own House
Most German states restrict universities from appointing their own staff to professorships. The higher education law of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, says that academic staff of the university itself can be considered only in justified exceptional cases. The rule is called the Hausberufungsverbot, the ban on in-house appointments. A legal commentary in the journal Forschung & Lehre gives its purpose. It ensures that candidates’ qualifications are judged from outside, and it guards against academic patronage.
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 House Sold on a Handshake
In Germany, a contract to sell a piece of land must be recorded by a notary. The Civil Code says so in § 311b. A sale agreed on a handshake, or in a letter signed by both sides, is void, however clearly both of them wanted it. The general rule is § 125: Ein Rechtsgeschäft, welches der durch Gesetz vorgeschriebenen Form ermangelt, ist nichtig. A legal transaction that lacks the form prescribed by law is void. The law offers one way back. The contract becomes valid after all once the transfer has been declared and entered in the land register.
By the Recognized Standard
Since 2013, the German Civil Code has had its own chapter on the treatment contract between doctor and patient. It sets the standard in one sentence: Die Behandlung hat nach den zum Zeitpunkt der Behandlung bestehenden, allgemein anerkannten fachlichen Standards zu erfolgen, soweit nicht etwas anderes vereinbart ist. Treatment must follow the generally recognized professional standards at the time of treatment, unless something else has been agreed. A doctor may use another method. But he must agree it with the patient.
No Booking Without a Receipt
Keine Buchung ohne Beleg. No booking without a receipt. It is a basic rule of German bookkeeping. Behind it stands § 238 of the Commercial Code. Every merchant must keep books that follow the principles of proper bookkeeping. The books must allow an expert third party to get an overview of the business within a reasonable time. Die Geschäftsvorfälle müssen sich in ihrer Entstehung und Abwicklung verfolgen lassen. Every transaction must be traceable from its origin to its completion.