Employment contracts and holiday allowance

I’m a little embarrassed to ask my boss, so I’m hoping to figure this out on my own. If I can’t, of course, I’ll ask, but maybe someone here can help?

I have an “Anstellungsvertrag� for a 12 month period, which I’ve been told is very similar to an American employment contract. I had someone explain it to me before signing it, but I don’t remember the details, only that it seemed to be an OK deal for the time being. Anyway, it states:


Now, I ran it through a translation program, and it said this:


So, does that mean 23 days off total, no matter if they are vacation OR sick days. And what the heck is the 3 months thing about? Does that include “bank holidays� and nationally recognized days off?

Also, I don’t see anything like Zahltag, Bezahlung Periode, or Tag der Zahlung in the contract, and I have no idea when I am going to get paid. It’s the 19th, and I started working on the 1st, but I haven’t got paid anything yet. My only guess is a salary quoted in “brutto� normally paid monthly at the end of the month, is that the case?

Hi BadlandZ,

banause's husband answering here (maybe I do need an account after all...)


It means that you get to take off 23 work days per year (that is, calendar year. You will get an according fraction of 23 if you aren't employed the whole calendar year).

Sick days are not counted towards the 23 vacation days. If you get sick during vacation, inform your employer (and see a doctor) so that those days don't count towards your 23 days allowance.

In addition, unless otherwise stated in your contract, you get off all weekends and the "gesetzliche Feiertage" which vary from state to state (and sometimes by city). There are between 9 and 13 of those days, but some might be on a weekend. Check http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feiertage_in_Deutschland for your "Bundesland".


Means that remaining vacation days (out of the (fraction of) 23) can be carried over to the next year but have to be used within 3 months. Otherwise your employer has to agree to still let you have those (e.g. they might be void).

So, in total, you should get off: All weekends (52 * 2), all gesetzliche Feiertage (around 8 non-weekend), 23 vacation days and sick days. That's about 37% of the year plus sick days!

Hope that helps.

Cool, thanks Banause's Husband! It does help. Now I've at least got an idea what's going on. Hmm... Road trips in Europe, or back to the US? I better find a local dog-sitter!

I found the only other part answered on another site "Salaries are generally deposited directly into your bank account around the 25th of each month."

Oh, forgot that. Salary is paid at the end of the month, going to your bank account, minus tax, health care and social security (way less than brutto, usually 55 to 60% of it for an unmarried person).

Yes your salary will be paid on or before the last day of the month, in arrears.
But not "brutto" (gross) but after deductions.

So you applied for and got a job, you moved yourself and (I presume) your family here, moved in and started work, and now you are are checking the employment contract?
sigh...

I am reminded of someone else I once knew. He was sent a German employment contract to sign but didn't understand a word of it. He called the HR department to ask for a translation so he could check the conditions. They told him that this was unnecessary, as one clause in the contract included a generous sum in payment for German lessons so he would be able to understand it later.

So did he take the job?

Which is why you will find quite a lot of people off on "Resturlaub" at the moment (its getting to the end of the quarter).

An a slightly different topic: its usual that the amount of annual holiday you can take during the Probezeit (probationary period) is limited. In most cases its ZERO - in my case they said "we just dont want you dissapearing for your annual holiday in first quarter".

I depends what you negociated.

Indeed he did. But he didn't sign the contract or start the job until he'd had it professionally translated.

You're assuming he had a choice. I had the same problem, I was offered a German contract to sign. So I had it translated, and offered to sign the english version instead. But nope, I had to sign the German version instead. I don't see how I can be legally bound to a contract I can't read, but...

To any HR experts out there. Is there a standard for the number of vacations days you can "expect" to get? E.g. Previously someone has received 30 days annual vacation allowance with a couple of companies, but prospective employer offers 23-24. Would it be reasonable to negotiate the same number as before?

See here what the law says ...

It blatantly states in the German version that you can only carry over the rest of your holidays in to the following 3 months of the following year only with permision from your employer.Get it and get it now or you could lose it

Thanks for your responses. We were actually trying to find out what is the norm for the number of vacation days that you could get in a new job as an experienced hire (not 18 years old etc). Carrying over of vacation from previous employers or years is not an issue.

In most companies the norm is 30 days holiday, i.e. six normal weeks.

Does anyone know then what the policy/legislation is in Germany w.r.t. handing in a notice, and then what happens to the remaining holidays? I read my contract, but it doesn't say anything about this i.e. whether you take an amount which is pro rata or can just take the full 30 days whenever you like.

What about taking your last week off- can this also be blocked if you have no important deadlines or obligations at that particular time? (in other words, if my manager says 'no' to holiday requests at the end of my contract, can I tell him to go f*ck himself?)

This is usually covered in your contract, but under normal circumstances companies will usually prefer you to take the remaining holiday, so that they don't have to pay you extra for it.

Unless there really are looming deadlines, I can't imagine any management forcing anyone to work to the bitter end if it wasn't absolutely necessary - they're not exactly going to have a motivated, productive employee on their hands, are they? If, for some reason, you do have to work to the end though, then they will have to pay you extra for the holiday that you lost.

preferably you take the holidays otherwise you will be heavily taxed if they pay you out.