Your job contract, in plain English

What a German employment contract usually says, what the law guarantees whatever it says, and what to check before you sign.

This is general information, not legal advice. Collective agreements, company size and your own situation can change the details, so check anything important against the sources at the end.

The contract and the written terms

Your contract is the Arbeitsvertrag. It is often in German. If it is, ask for an English translation, and ask which version counts if the two differ.

Separately, the Nachweisgesetz (the Evidence Act) says your employer must give you the essential terms of the job in writing. Pay and working hours must reach you by your first day; the place of work, your duties, probation and overtime rules within seven days; holiday, notice periods and any collective agreement within a month.^[1]

Since 2025 employers may send these terms electronically, as long as you can save and print them.^[1] You can still ask for a signed paper copy, and in some sectors paper is still required.^[2]

Probation: the Probezeit

Most contracts start with a probation period, the Probezeit. During it, either side can end the contract with two weeks' notice.^[3] It can last up to six months; in a fixed-term contract it must be in proportion to the term.^[4][5]

After six months, in a business with more than ten employees, the general protection against unfair dismissal (the Kündigungsschutzgesetz) starts to apply. From then on an employer needs a recognised reason to dismiss you.^[6][7]

Notice after probation

The legal minimum, in §622 of the Civil Code (BGB), is four weeks, ending on the 15th or the last day of a month. For the employer it grows with how long you have worked there: one month after two years, rising step by step to seven months after twenty years.^[4]

Contracts can set longer periods. One rule protects you: your notice period can never be longer than your employer's. A collective agreement can set its own periods.^[4]

A resignation or a dismissal only counts on paper, signed by hand. An email or a WhatsApp message is not enough.^[4][6]

Fixed-term or permanent

A permanent contract is unbefristet; a fixed-term one is befristet.

Without a particular reason, an employer can offer a fixed-term contract for up to two years in total, renewed up to three times within those two years. With a recognised reason, different rules apply. The fixed term must be agreed in writing to be valid.^[8]

A fixed-term contract can only be ended early with notice if the contract or a collective agreement says so.^[8] Check for that clause.

Working hours

The Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Hours Act) limits a working day to eight hours. It can go up to ten, as long as the average over six months stays at eight. Between two working days you are entitled to at least eleven hours' rest.^[9]

A reform of these limits was under discussion in 2026 but was not law when this page was checked.^[10][11]

Overtime

Look at how overtime, Überstunden, is handled: paid, given back as time off, or said to be "included in the salary". If overtime can be required, your written terms must say so and on what conditions.^[2]

The Federal Labour Court has struck down vague clauses saying all overtime is covered by the salary, but each clause turns on its wording.^[12][13] If one worries you, ask before signing.

Holiday

The Bundesurlaubsgesetz (Federal Holiday Act) sets a minimum of 20 days a year if you work five days a week. The law itself says 24, because it counts Saturdays.^[14]

Many employers give more, and many collective agreements give 30 days, including most IG Metall ones.^[14][15] You earn the full year's entitlement once you have been in the job for six months.^[14]

Sick leave

If you are ill, tell your employer straight away. If it lasts more than three calendar days, you need a doctor's note by the following day at the latest. Your employer can ask for one earlier, even from the first day, and your contract may say so.^[16]

With public health insurance, the doctor sends the note electronically (the eAU) to your insurer, and your employer fetches it from there. With private insurance you get a paper note and pass it on.^[17]

Under the Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, your employer keeps paying you for up to six weeks of illness, once you have worked there for four weeks.^[16] After that, public health insurance pays sickness benefit (Krankengeld): 70% of gross pay, capped at 90% of net.^[18]

Pay and the minimum wage

The contract states pay as a gross figure, before tax and social contributions. What arrives in your account is net, and noticeably lower. Our separate guide, Salaries and pay, explains the difference.

The statutory minimum wage is €13.90 an hour in 2026, rising to €14.60 on 1 January 2027.^[19][20] It applies to every employee working in Germany, even when the employer is based abroad, with a few exceptions such as some internships and under-18s without vocational training.^[21]

Non-compete clauses

A clause that stops you working for a competitor after you leave is a nachvertragliches Wettbewerbsverbot. It is only binding if it is in writing, lasts no more than two years, and the employer pays you at least half your last pay for each year it runs.^[22]

Before you sign

• Do the job title and duties match what you discussed?
• Gross salary, and whether bonuses are promised or described as voluntary
• Weekly hours and how overtime is handled
• Length of probation and notice periods on both sides
• Fixed-term or permanent, and the end date if fixed-term
• Number of holiday days
• Any collective agreement (Tarifvertrag) or works agreement that applies
• A non-compete, or a clause asking you to repay training or relocation costs if you leave

Ask about anything unclear, and get the answer in writing.

Where to get help

• The works council (Betriebsrat), if your employer has one. It represents employees.
• Trade unions. DGB unions advise members on employment law and can represent them at the labour court.^[23]
• Faire Integration: free advice on work questions, in several languages, for people from outside the EU.^[24]
• Faire Mobilität: the same, free and anonymous, for workers from central and eastern Europe.^[25]
• A lawyer specialising in employment law, a Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht. This usually costs money.
• The BMAS citizens' helpline on employment law, 030 221 911 004, Monday to Thursday 8:00–17:00 and Friday 8:00–12:00.^[26]

One deadline matters above all: if you are dismissed and want to challenge it, you have three weeks from receiving the letter to go to the labour court. After that, the dismissal generally stands.^[7][6]

Where to check

• Minimum wage — Federal Ministry of Labour (BMAS), in German
• Protection against dismissal — BMAS, in German
• BMAS citizens' helpline — numbers and hours, in German
• Work contract — Make it in Germany, the government's English-language portal
• Faire Integration — free advice for people from outside the EU
• Faire Mobilität — free advice for workers from central and eastern Europe
• Sick notes and the eAU — Verbraucherzentrale, in German
• Holiday entitlement — DGB, the German trade union confederation, in German
• §622 BGB, notice periods — the law text, in German

This guide is about Germany. Austria and Switzerland work differently — sometimes very differently. See working in Austria and working in Switzerland.

Figures on this page were checked on 23 September 2026 against the sources below, and are revised most years.