Gültigkeitsgebiet: Bundesweit
If you are employed as an employee in Germany, you have certain rights and obligations. Here you will find information on the legal conditions, for example regarding statutory working hours or unemployment support.
Remuneration
Employees are entitled to payment of the statutory Minimum wage after Minimum Wage Act. The statutory minimum wage is adjusted at regular intervals by means of a statutory ordinance issued by the Federal Government on the basis of a proposal by a Minimum Wage Commission.
Information about the current altitude and the calculation of the statutory minimum wage can be found on the Website of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and on the Official website of the customs administration authorities. The customs administration is responsible for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Minimum Wage Act.
Employees can furthermore be entitled to collective bargaining remuneration conditions apply if your employer and the employee are bound by a collective agreement or if the collective agreement has been made binding through a declaration of general applicability pursuant to the Collective Agreements Act or an ordinance pursuant to the Posted Workers Act.
In the Nursing care industry and in the field of temporary employment minimum remuneration can be set by ordinance. If they are nationwide generally binding collective agreements or an ordinance in temporary employment or in the care sector, the customs administration authorities check whether the minimum remuneration is being observed. The customs administration authorities provide information about the minimum remuneration they monitor on their Website.
Working hours
In the through the Working Hours Act Within the specified framework, the weekly working hours can be distributed across individual days by means of a collective bargaining agreement or an individual employment contract. The beginning, end, and breaks of the daily working hours can also be specifically determined. In doing so, the employer must take into account the comprehensive co-determination right of the works council pursuant to Section 87, Paragraph 1, Number 2 of the German Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).
Severely disabled people have a right to have their working hours organized to accommodate their disability (Section 164 (4) number 4 of the Ninth Book of the German Social Code [SGB IX]).
Maximum working hours
Therefore, when working hours are to be performed depends fundamentally on the collective bargaining, company or employment agreement, which forms the basis of the respective employment relationship.
The maximum permissible working hours is determined primarily by the Working Hours Act, but also by other special working time protection regulations, for example by the Youth Employment Protection Act.
8 hours of daily work represent the generally daily maximum working hours. Working days are the days from Monday to Saturday.
The daily working hours can be extended by up to 10 hours become, if within a period of 6 months, working hours are balanced out such that, on average, 8 hours per working day are not exceeded.
When asking about the maximum permissible working hours, also count On-call duty and standby duty as working time.
Furthermore, if employees of multiple employers busy, the combined working hours must not exceed the maximum working hours.
Work breaks
If working hours exceed 6 hours, a Break time of at least 30 minutes and, in the event of a working time of more than 9 hours, to provide a break of at least 45 minutes.
This minimum break time however, can also be divided into several breaks. Each individual break must always be at least 15 minutes long. Employees may not be employed for longer than 6 hours without a break.
Quiet hours
After the end of the working hours, the employee is granted a uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours to grant.
The duration of the 11-hour rest period can in hospitals and similar facilities as well as in certain companies may be reduced by up to one hour if the reduction in rest time is compensated for. This also applies, for example, to restaurants, food and lodging establishments, as well as to transportation companies and the agricultural sector.
Work on Sundays and Holidays
Weekly Day Off In Germany, Sunday is generally the day off. The employment of workers on Sundays and holidays is generally prohibited. However, exceptions apply, for example, to work in hospitals, emergency and rescue services, as well as in public transportation companies or restaurants. If, in exceptional cases, certain work is also performed on Sundays and holidays, employees must promptly submit a Compensatory Day Off received. In addition, at least 15 Sundays per year must remain free of work.
The parties to the collective bargaining agreement, as well as the company representatives, may, to a certain extent, deviate from the aforementioned provisions regarding working hours Deviations arrange.
Health Screenings and Medical Examinations
Employees who working at night, ...that is, to a significant extent between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., are entitled to undergo occupational health examinations before the start of their employment and at regular intervals thereafter. After reaching the age of 50, employees who work at night are entitled to these examinations at one-year intervals. The employer is generally responsible for covering the costs of the examinations.
Adolescents In addition, if the relevant requirements are met, they are entitled to medical examinations. This includes, for example, the right to an initial examination, a first follow-up examination, and an annual follow-up examination. The employer should inform the young people of this option in a timely manner.
Vacation
The Minimum Vacation Time Under the Federal Vacation Act, annual vacation entitlement amounts to 24 days, based on a 6-day workweek. Additional vacation entitlements may arise from special laws (e.g., § 208 SGB IX) or other provisions, such as collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts.
Fixed-Term Employment Contracts
Fixed-term employment contracts may only be entered into if expressly permitted by law. The Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG) contains general provisions regarding the fixed-term nature of employment contracts.
A fixed-term employment contract is valid only if it has been agreed upon in writing. A fixed-term employment contract usually ends without notice. It can only be terminated properly, i.e., in due time, if this has been agreed upon between the parties to the employment contract or in a collective bargaining agreement.
Fixed-term employment contracts generally require a Justified on substantive grounds . The Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act contains a non-exhaustive list of possible objective grounds. These include, for example, serving as a substitute for another person.
The following are also permitted: Fixed-term contracts without cause for a total duration of up to 2 years with the option to extend the contract up to three times. A prerequisite for this is that the employee has not previously had a fixed-term or permanent employment relationship with the same employer (the so-called “prohibition on consecutive contracts”). A collective bargaining agreement may Maximum Term of a Fixed-Term Contract and the number of renewals for fixed-term contracts without objective grounds is regulated differently from the law.
In addition, the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act contains special provisions regarding fixed-term contracts without objective grounds in newly established companies and with Employees aged 52 and older. There are provisions outside the scope of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act for certain groups of people special statutory regulations on the fixed-term nature of employment contracts, in particular in the Act on Fixed-Term Contracts in Academia.
The legally invalid fixed-term contract of an employment contract leads to an employment relationship of indefinite duration. An employee who wishes to have the validity of the fixed-term arrangement reviewed by a court may file a lawsuit within 3 weeks after the expiration of the fixed-term employment contract.
Working part-time
In general, the employer must comply with an employee's request for a Change of duration and schedule must discuss the existing contractual working hours.
Employees whose employment relationship has lasted for longer than 6 months can demand that their contractually agreed working hours reduced You must notify your employer of your request for part-time work in text form, for example by email, 3 months before the planned start.
A Legal right to unlimited part-time work applies provided that the employer regularly employs more than 15 employees.
For employers with generally more than 45 employees, there is also an entitlement to temporarily limited, i.e., fixed-term part-time work (bridging part-time work). In this case, the employee automatically returns to the originally agreed working hours after the expiration of the reduction in working hours agreed upon for a fixed period, i.e., between one and 5 years.
The employer may refuse the employee's request for part-time work oppose with operational reasons. With bridge part-time work, employers with typically 46 to 200 employees also have a special reasonableness limit.
The employer can change the distribution of working hours if the operational interest the interest of the employee significantly outweighs [it] and the employer has announced the change at least one month in advance.
Part-time employees who want to extend their working hours and to notify the employer of this in text form, are to be given preferential consideration when filling a correspondingly vacant position. Exceptions apply only if urgent operational reasons or working time requests of other employees conflict with this, if there is no correspondingly vacant position, or if the employee is not equally suited to fill the vacant position as another applicant. The employer must prove such exceptions.
on-call work
As part of the on-call work will a specific working time budget agreed upon for a future period. Employees are then called upon by the employer as needed, when work arises, called up for work performance.
In the Roughing work only the distribution of the previously agreed working time budget is variable. The weekly working hours, however, must contractually agreed be agreed; if it is missing, 20 hours are automatically considered agreed. The daily duration of the working hours must also be contractually determined; if this is not done, each called-in work assignment must last at least 3 hours. There must be at least 4 days between the call to work and the start of work.
Collective agreements under certain conditions Deviations provide for.
Protection against dismissal
For the Termination of the employment relationship certain rules apply. In establishments with more than 10 employees, the Protection Against Dismissal Act. In this case, the employer can only terminate the employment relationship if there is a reason for dismissal.
Reasons for termination, which the Protection Against Dismissal Act permits, are reasons related to the person or conduct of the employee, or operational reasons.
Both employers and employees must comply with the legal or agreed Notice periods comply.
One summary dismissal can only be issued if there is a valid reason.
A termination must in writing take place.
In addition to general protection against dismissal, for certain particularly vulnerable groups of people special dismissal protection.This applies, for example, to pregnant women or severely disabled persons.
An employee who validity of his termination wishes to have reviewed by a court, can within 3 weeks of receipt of the written notice of termination Wrongful termination lawsuit raise.
Posted workers
Posted workers are entitled to certain Working conditions, which are contained in laws or in certain universally binding collective agreements. The Posted Workers Act regulates which employment conditions apply to posted workers. The applicable working conditions include in particular:
A detailed presentation of applicable working conditions can be found on the website of Directorate General of Customs.
Unemployment benefits
The Unemployment benefit is an insurance benefit. It is financed by the contributions of employees subject to social security contributions and their employers. Anyone who has been insured for the legally required minimum period has a legal entitlement to the benefit when the insured event occurs.
Entitlement to unemployment benefits who is unemployed, has registered in person as unemployed with the Employment Agency, and has fulfilled the qualifying period.
The Law of unemployment benefit is regulated in the Third Book of the Social Code (SGB III).
Competent service provider is the Federal Employment Agency (BA) or the locally competent employment agency.
Basic income support for job seekers (unemployment benefit II, ALG II for short)
Employable beneficiaries of assistance, ewho cannot cover their living expenses from their own resources (income or assets), provided all other requirements are met, are entitled to benefits to secure their livelihood (unemployment benefit II).
The Basic income support for job seekers is a minimum income benefit system. The benefits are not contribution-based and are generally available to all employable beneficiaries.
Responsible for ALG II are the Job Center.
The Law on basic social security for job seekers is regulated in the Second Book of the Social Code (SGB II).
Unemployment benefits:
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