German Employment Law

German employment law is more employee-friendly than the equivalent English or US law.  For that reason, when hiring in Germany, you need a lawyer who understands the legal and cultural differences to help you avoid the pitfalls often invisible to the untrained eye and help you build solid employment relationships.

We provide German employment law advice in-house to supplement our UK and French employment legal services and enhance your European expansion.  We recommend that the contract is in both German and English because if there is a dispute, the authorities will only deal with the German version.

German employment relationships are regulated by statute, collective bargaining agreements (where applicable) and the employment contract. We can advise you on the legal requirements for and draft a compliant and appropriate employment contract. We can guide you on the applicable paid annual leave entitlements, statutory sick leave and pay, maternity and paternity leave and pay.

Restrictive covenants, especially non-competition and non-solicitation used in the UK or the US, are often not enforceable in Germany and need to be reviewed and updated to be compliant with German law and protect you as far as possible.

Additionally, we can advise on how to deal with works councils, disciplinary, performance and grievance issues and any other day-to-day matters arising in a German employment relationship.

Terminating an employment relationship is not always straightforward and in some cases not as black and white as the situation would have you believe. Depending on the size of your German workforce and the length of service, a lengthy and complicated process may have to be completed before all ties are severed. We can guide you through the process, whether a straightforward termination, a redundancy or a mutual separation, and provide the necessary documents.

Please contact us for further information.