Employee, self-employed individual/freelancer, officers of a company such as a managing director.

Yes, fixed-term contract, indefinite employment, part-time contract, full-time employment, marginal employment ("mini jobs").

Usually, an employment contract contains the position, working hours, remuneration, leave entitlement, notice period, and other rights and obligations. However, there is no written form requirement. Employment can even be created on factual grounds by simply starting it. A fixed-term employment contract must be signed with original signatures by both parties; otherwise, the limitation is invalid.

Yes, on a pro-rata basis. There is a principle of equal treatment regarding part-time employees and full-time employees.

No, an employment contract is concluded between an individual employee and the employer company. It is personal (personengebunden) and cannot be assigned to another person. Only in case of a transfer of business and undertakings will the employment be transferred to the acquiring company if the employee does not object to the transfer of his/her employment.

It has to be differentiated between a share deal and an asset deal. If only the shareholder changes, the employer company remains the same and the employment remains unchanged at the employer company. In case of a sale of assets, a transfer of business and undertakings may occur. This is the case if the major assets (work material, a significant number of employees or crucial employees, know-how, intangible assets, customer relations, etc.) of an operational unit are transferred to an acquiring company in a way that the identity of the operational unit remains unaffected and the operation is continued as previously. Then, the employment relationships of all employees belonging to the transferred entity will transfer with all existing rights and working conditions to the acquiring company. Affected employees may object to the transfer of their employment and will remain at their original employer company. Redundancies may take place there. There is no statutory right to severance in case of a transfer of business or in case of redundancies. If there is a works council, a reconciliation of interests and a social plan may provide for severance payments in case of reorganizations and redundancies. In practice, the employer and the individual employee often agree on termination agreements with a certain amount of severance. However, in the case of a transfer of business, all existing rights and obligations of the transferring employments continue unchanged. The employees do not suffer financial disadvantages. Also, the employment relationships of the unaffected employees must not be terminated "because of" the transfer of business. A termination based on other reasons (personal reasons, misconduct, a separate reorganization plan with redundancies independent from the transfer of business) remains possible.

No. If only the shareholder(s) of the employer company change, the legal entity of the employer company remains the same. There is no statutory change of control rights of the employees.

Within the employer's right to give directions/instructions the employer can unilaterally change the terms of the employment (e.g. relocation, assignment of different duties). The extent of the employer's right to give instructions depends on the position, title, and job description stipulated in the employment contract as well as possible relocation clauses. Beyond the employer's right to give instructions, changes to the terms and conditions of the employment are only admissible with the consent of the employee or if the employer issues a "termination to change conditions" (Änderungskündigung). The employer needs sufficient business reasons for such termination to change conditions which includes a full termination of the employment combined with an offer to continue the employment on changed conditions. The employee can either accept the offer and continue the employment on changed conditions, or the employee can refuse the offer and sue the employer. Or the employee can accept the change of conditions by reserving the right to have the validity of the changes assessed by a labor court. In both last alternatives, the labor court will either rule that the termination to change conditions was valid or not. If an employer unilaterally changes the terms of the employment (e.g. remuneration, level of hierarchy of the employee or new position beyond the employer's right to give instructions) without a sufficient legal basis, then the employee can refuse to work and still claim the contractual remuneration.

No, there is no employment at will in Germany. If the employee has been employed for more than six months in a company with more than 10 employees, in Germany the employee enjoys "protection against unfair dismissal". This means that the employment can only be terminated for three reasons: redundancy, personal reasons (i.e. long-term illness or repeated short-term illnesses), misconduct (breach of duties after a written warning). During the probationary period (first six months of employment) or in companies with ten or less employees in Germany no protection against unfair dismissal applies, and the employment can be terminated without a specific reason being required. However, the dismissal must not be discriminatory, arbitrary or otherwise against the law. Any termination requires written form.

After having received a notice of termination, the employee can claim protection against unfair dismissal at the competent labor court within three weeks. The court will decide whether the termination was valid or not.

At present, there is only partial statutory protection for whistleblowers from sanctions under labor law, that is either sector-specific protection (e.g. specific regulations for financial services sector) or rather general labor protection law not specifically providing for whistleblower protection. To enjoy protection, the whistleblower's report must fulfill different requirements depending on the applicable regulation- in particular, his or her report must be legitimate and also either correct or at least not false due to gross negligence. In absence of specific statutory protection of whistleblowers, the protection is determined by general rules based on case law. According to case law, protection then depends on a comprehensive weighing of interests in the individual case. However, the standard of protection tends to be lower compared to other countries that have implemented specific statutory whistleblower protection. Due to the absence of consistent whistleblower protection throughout the European Union, the European Parliament has passed the so-called "Whistleblower Directive" to be implemented by the Member States by 17 December 2021. In light of this, the German legislator is obliged to establish specific whistleblower protection, not limited to certain sectors. Hence, it can be expected that the general level of whistleblower protection will increase.

Yes, extensive rights to privacy are regulated in the German Data Privacy Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz) and the European General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). In the event of a breach, the employee can claim that his/her personal data is deleted and can possibly claim damages. An employer's breach of the data protection laws can be a criminal offense. Furthermore, data protection authorities may impose substantial fines.

Yes, the German Anti-Discrimination and Equal Treatment Act provides for protection against discrimination regarding gender, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, handicap, religion, etc.

Yes. There is a statutory minimum vacation of four weeks per calendar year (i.e. a minimum of 20 days of vacation in a 5-day week). In the event of the employee's illness, the employer has to pay the contractual remuneration for up to six weeks for the same illness. If a new illness occurs, the six-week period starts to run again. Women are released from work (maternity protection period) for six weeks before and for two months after the birth of a child. From the date of birth of the child either the mother or father can claim up to three years of parental leave for the child, also in an alternating mode. There have not been substantial changes in the past 12 months. However, employers must ask their employees to take any untaken vacation until the end of a calendar year, otherwise is it not forfeited at the end of the year or on 31st of March of the following year and is continued in the upcoming calendar year.

Yes. A contractual prohibition of competition applies during the term of the employment anyway, i.e. the employee must not compete with the employer during the employment. A post-contractual prohibition of competition can be agreed upon between the employer and the employee for a maximum of up to two years after the end of the employment and only in regions where the employer actively pursues its business and with respect to competing activities in the same field of business. In order to be valid, the non-compete clause must contain compensation payments of the employer for the term of the post-contractual prohibition of competition in the amount of at least half the total remuneration last earned by the employee.

No. A post-contractual prohibition of competition requires consideration of at least half of the total remuneration which the employee last received during the term of the non-compete.

There is statutory pension insurance to which the employer and the employee have to pay contributions (each half of the whole contribution). The whole contribution in 2021 amounts to 18.6% of the monthly gross remuneration but capped at an "assessment ceiling" of EUR 7,100 gross per month (West German states) and EUR 6,700 gross per month (East German states).

Employer and employee (each 50%) have to pay social security contributions to the state pension insurance, state health insurance, state unemployment insurance and nursery insurance schemes.

Yes. The regular statutory retirement age depends on the year of the employee´s birth; for individuals born in 1964 and later, the retirement age will be 67, for individuals born in 1963 it is 66 + 11 months, born in 1962 it is 66 + 10 months and so on. It is possible in employment contracts to limit the employment to the date when the employee reaches the statutory retirement age.

If an individual is entitled to any mandatory pension payments or other insured benefits, this entitlement will usually not be affected/cease if this individual continues employment beyond his/her regular retirement age. If the claim is based on an agreement with a (private) insurance company, there may be different provisions agreed upon in the particular case.

At present, there is (still) no statutory obligation to vaccinate employees. However, compulsory vaccination for special occupational groups is being discussed in politics (especially for the nursing and medical sectors). Against this background, employers are currently not able to demand that their employees get vaccinated by virtue of the right of direction – at least as long as there will be no general statutory obligation to vaccinate. This is because the exercise of the right to direct requires a comprehensive weighing of the conflicting interests. On one hand, employers have a legitimate interest in vaccinating their employees. In particular, employers must ensure the protection of their own employees and third parties (e.g. customers). In addition, the employer has a legitimate interest in being able to maintain his business operations. Vaccination would be of great interest to employers in this respect. However, on the other hand, these legitimate interests of the employer are in conflict with significant interests of the employee protected by fundamental rights, in particular the freedom of personality and the right to physical integrity. These interests of the employee will in principle outweigh the economic interests of the employer. It is currently unclear whether an exception applies to special occupational groups such as doctors and nursing staff. For this reason, employers in principle cannot impose sanctions under labor law if employees refuse to be vaccinated. Therefore, is only possible to offer vaccination on a purely voluntary basis. However, if vaccination damage occurs, the employer may be liable for these damages.

Please note that the legal situation is, as well as the COVID-19 situation generally, currently rather volatile and may change on short notice. At the moment, according to the Corona Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance (“Corona-Arbeitsschutzverordnung”), as amended on 13 April 2021, employers must in principle offer all employees performing office the option to work from home. An exception applies only if compelling operational reasons require attendance at the workplace. If there are such compelling operational reasons, the employee must appear at the workplace on the instruction of the employer. The employer then must ensure sufficient protective measures at the workplace and also consider special circumstances of the employee (e.g. pre-existing illnesses that may result in a severe case of COVID-19). Otherwise, the employee in question could legitimately refuse to return to work. If the employer has implemented sufficient protective measures and the employee nevertheless refuses to appear for work, the employer can in principle take sanctions under labor law. However, at least one warning must usually be issued before a dismissal. The abovementioned Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance is currently valid until 30 June 2021. It cannot be ruled out that the Ordinance will be prolonged again. After the expiry of the Ordinance, employers can in principle order their employees to return to their workplace. Even then, the employer will have to take the necessary protective measures and usually issue a warning before dismissal.