Working in Germany: Your Rights From the First Day to the Last

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Most of what an employee in Germany is entitled to is written down somewhere: in the contract, in a collective agreement, or in a law nobody reads voluntarily. The pages below take the rights that matter and put them where you will need them, in the order a job happens. If you are holding an offer, start with the salary calculator: German ads quote gross figures, and the gap to net pay surprises most newcomers.

Finding a job

• Finding a job in Germany: the official portals, recognition of foreign qualifications, and the routes for searching from abroad or from inside Germany.
• The German CV (Lebenslauf): the two-page table recruiters expect, as a template, and what you may leave out.
• The German cover letter (Anschreiben): one page, four paragraphs, a signature, with example sentences in English and German.
• Job-seeker visa and opportunity card: who can come to Germany to look for work, and for how long.
• Skilled work visa: the residence title once you hold an offer.

Starting a job

• The employment contract: what must be in writing, which clauses are negotiable, and which ones the courts have struck down.
• Probezeit: the probation period month by month, with the dates on which sick pay, vacation and dismissal protection start.
• Income tax classes: the class on your payslip decides your monthly net pay, and marriage changes it.
• Minijobs: the small job with its own tax and insurance rules, and the monthly limit that defines it.
• Hourly wage calculator: what an hour of your time is worth, against the minimum wage.

On the job

• Vacation days: the legal minimum by working week, how days build up in the first year, carry-over and payout.
• Sick leave: when to call in, when you need the doctor’s note, six weeks of full pay, then sick pay from the insurer.
• Overtime: the ten-hour limit, when extra hours must be paid, and the hour log that wins a claim.
• Vacation days calculator: your entitlement for a part year, a part-time week or a job that ends mid-year.
• Working days calculator: working days between two dates, with the public holidays of your state.

Leaving a job

• Resigning in Germany: the notice period on a calendar, a letter template in German and English, and the steps before your last day.
• The Arbeitszeugnis: how to read the grade hidden in your reference letter, and how to get a wrong one corrected.

When something goes wrong

Disputes about pay, dismissal, overtime or a reference letter end up at the labor court. In the first instance each side pays its own lawyer there, even the side that wins. Legal insurance with the employment module covers that cost once its waiting period has passed, which is why the useful moment to take it out is the start of a job, not the start of a dispute. The four policies for Germany, two of them sold in English: legal insurance in Germany.

Bottom line

Begin where you are in the job: finding a job if you are still looking, the contract page and salary calculator if you hold an offer. Already working? Go straight to the section on your question.

Other parts of life in Germany: moving to Germany · living in Germany · taxes · health insurance.