Anyone working in Germany is entitled to paid time off to allow them to rest and recuperate. One of the great perks of having a job in Germany is the generous holiday allowance offered by most employers. Here’s an overview of the rules surrounding vacation days in Germany.
Employers in Germany are bound by law to offer at least the statutory minimum holiday entitlement each year, but in practice many offer their employees more days off.
According to the Federal Holidays Act, full-time employees in Germany are entitled to a statutory minimum of 20 days of paid holiday per year, based on a five-day working week, or 24, based on a six-day working week. Both equate to four days of holiday each year.
Part-time employees have their holiday leave calculated pro rata, based on their weekly working hours. For mini- and midi-jobs, the vacation entitlement is calculated on the basis of the number of days you work per week (regardless of how many hours you work per day). You can use this calculator to work out your vacation entitlement as a minijobber.
Young employees are entitled to more holiday leave:
In practice, however, most employers give their employees more holiday days, with between 25 and 30 days of annual leave being very common for employees working a five-day week. The amount of holiday you will receive is detailed in your work contract, or in your collective agreement (Tarifvertrag), if you work in an industry that is covered by one.
Many people erroneously believe that an employee is not entitled to holiday leave during their probation period (Probezeit). In fact, your holiday entitlement starts as soon as you begin working. For each month worked, you build up one-twelfth of your annual leave entitlement. After six months, you receive the full entitlement.
It’s worth noting that, in general, an employee’s holiday entitlement does not include public holidays in Germany. This means the statutory minimum holiday entitlement is actually between 30 and 33 days off per year, depending on which federal state you live in. However, you should check the exact wording of your employment contract to be sure.
Exceptions to this rule are:
In both cases, you would have to apply to take the public holiday or Sunday as a day off using your vacation entitlement.
In Germany, the vacation entitlement given to all employees is paid time off. Paid time off is exactly what it sounds like - time off, during which you are paid! While you take your holiday days, you will continue to receive your regular salary. Your holiday pay is calculated on the basis of your salary in the 13 weeks prior to you taking holiday. Components like commission and bonuses should also be taken into account.
All employees are obliged to seek permission from their employer before taking a holiday day. Taking leave without your employer’s consent is considered a breach of duty. However, once a request for holiday has been granted it can only be revoked in exceptional circumstances.
The process for requesting vacation days will vary from company to company (you should be informed of the process during your onboarding). Generally, you’ll need to let your employer know in advance. Again, the exact rules vary from company to company, but by law you need to give at least 14 days’ notice. If you plan on taking a long vacation, you should let your employer know well in advance.
Many companies use software or digital platforms to track holiday entitlements and submit and confirm requests. In some companies, it may be as simple as sending an email to your line manager.
Your employer must allow you to take at least one two-week-long vacation per year; they are not allowed to force you to take only short holidays. Neither are they allowed to dictate which days you take off.
In some circumstances, however, your employer has the right to refuse your request for holiday leave, for instance:
In some countries around the world, you’re allowed to “store up” your unused vacation days and carry them over to the following year to take a longer holiday. In Germany, it’s not quite so simple. Here’s an overview of the rules surrounding unused holiday days.
Generally, you have to use up your holiday leave before the end of the calendar year. Some employers might let you carry it forward, but they might also limit the number of days you can carry over. Legally, you can carry your holiday forward until March 31 if you were unable to take it due to sickness or operational reasons (i.e. you had to cover someone else’s holiday leave).
However, the Federal Labour Court recently ruled that employees can only lose their vacation days if they receive notice from their employer that they have remaining days to take, which would otherwise be lost. Therefore, your employer is obliged to inform you towards the end of the calendar year if you have remaining holiday days, and request that you take them off. If they neglect to do this, your holiday entitlement will not expire.
Special rules apply if you took long-term sick leave during any given calendar year. In this case, your holiday entitlements will expire only 15 months after the end of the calendar year in which you took sick leave.
If you have unused accumulated holidays when you leave your job (e.g. if you find a new job), you can claim remuneration from your employer for holidays not taken. Your employer may also require you to take your unused holiday leave during your notice period.
The process varies, however, depending on when you resign or get made redundant:
It is also possible for you to waive your holiday entitlement as part of an agreement with your employer, for instance to negotiate a better severance package if you have been dismissed or made redundant.
In general, employees are not entitled to demand a payout for unused holiday days; this is only possible when the employment contract is terminated. Otherwise, any unused holiday days will simply expire.
Holiday leave is designed to let employees rest and unwind, and so the law holds that if you get sick while taking your annual leave, these days will not count towards your annual allocation; instead you can “convert” the lost holiday days into sick days (and therefore recover some of your holiday day entitlement).
To do this, you will need to get a note from your doctor on the first day of your illness and immediately inform your company (rather than waiting until you’re back from holiday to inform them, for instance). Doctors’ notes obtained abroad should also suffice for this purpose. Without a sick note, it is not possible to claim the holiday days as sick days.
You can’t apply for sick leave while on holiday if you are using overtime to be on holiday, as this is not officially considered a holiday but “compensatory time off”.
If you want to take more holiday days than your entitlement, you may be able to take additional days off in exchange for a deduction from your salary - also known as unpaid leave.
This arrangement is not legally mandated - meaning employees do not have an entitlement to unpaid leave, and can take it only if their employer allows it. Companies that do allow unpaid leave will usually limit the amount of unpaid leave an employee can take in a given year.
In almost all German states, employees also have the right to take holidays to pursue education. This is known as educational leave (Bildungsurlaub most commonly, but also Bildungsfreistellung or Bildungszeit).
The legal right to educational leave for employees exists in 14 out of the 16 German states. Bavaria and Saxony are currently the only two states in which there is no legal entitlement to educational leave - although your employer may still allow you to take it.
Educational leave is granted in addition to the employee’s regular vacation entitlement - you do not have to sacrifice holiday days to take it. Full-time employees are entitled to five days of education leave per year, or 10 days every two years. This is increased to 10 days per year, if they are under the age of 26. Your employer is obliged to grant your request for educational leave, so long as:
To apply, you’ll need to check the exact regulations in your state and then select a suitable seminar or course from a recognised provider. The course does not necessarily have to be directly related to your job for you to qualify for educational leave.
Once you’ve selected a course, you need to register for it. You will then receive some documentation from the course provider that you can use to apply for educational leave from your employer. You should do this as soon as possible, but at least four to nine weeks before the course starts. If your course is not recognised, you can still ask your employer permission, and they might grant your request.
While you are on educational leave, your employer will continue to pay your regular salary (just as they would if you were taking annual leave). They do not have to cover the course fees, costs of teaching materials, or travel and accommodation costs - but you can deduct these as expenses on your annual tax return.
Sabbatical leave is a long, unpaid holiday from work. People usually take sabbatical leave to study or work on personal projects, or simply to travel and relax.
As an employee you have a few options for taking a sabbatical. Some employers might offer a working time account (Wertguthaben), which is an arrangement under which your employer retains some of your salary while you work, in order to keep paying you during your sabbatical.
You can also choose to take unpaid leave. This is usually down to the discretion of the employer.
Before taking a sabbatical, you should consider the implications for your social security, as you may lose access to benefits if you stop paying your contributions.