Hiring in Germany

You can hire in Germany in three ways:

• Your own German entity.
• An employer of record, legal here only as employee leasing under the AÜG (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz, the Temporary Employment Act).
• Contractors, where the real working relationship decides the status.

You can also register employees for German social insurance directly, without an entity. For employees, plan around employer contributions of 21.3% of gross pay and a statutory minimum wage of €13.90 / hour.

Three ways to hire in Germany

The right route depends on how many people you hire, for how long, and whether they work in Germany.

Route	Legal employer	What you pay on top of salary	How you end it
Your own entity	Your German GmbH or UG. A GmbH needs €25,000 share capital; a UG may be founded with less. Without an entity: you, registered as a foreign employer for German social insurance	Employer contributions of 21.3% of gross (see Taxes and contributions below)	Statutory notice of 4 weeks – 7 months, plus dismissal protection after six months
Employer of record	The provider, which is a lender of staff under the AÜG and needs a permit	The same 21.3% contributions flow through into the price, plus the provider's fee. Fee levels differ by provider	The same dismissal law applies with the provider as employer, notice 4 weeks – 7 months. The same worker cannot stay with the same client longer than 18 months
Contractor	None; the contractor is self-employed	No employer contributions if the status is genuine	Service-contract notice, which depends on how the pay is measured. If the status fails, contributions fall back on you: about €30,450 over 12 months at €6,141 monthly pay

Can you hire in Germany without a German company?

Yes. You register your employees for German social insurance as a foreign employer and pay contributions as if your company were based in Germany. When each job starts, you report the employee to the collection agency.

Wage tax is a separate question. The duty to withhold it falls on an employer with a permanent establishment or permanent representative in Germany. Without either, you do not withhold it.

International clients often are unaware of the fact that an own German legal entity is not required to directly hire their own employees in Germany.

— Taylor Wessing Germany employment team, Taylor Wessing, 6 May 2025

No official duration exists for the registration. Whether an employee's home office creates a permanent establishment is answered in the registration section below.

When an employer of record is legal here

An employer of record is legal in Germany as employee leasing (Arbeitnehmerüberlassung). The provider employs the worker and leases them to you, and it needs a permit from the Federal Employment Agency.

Taylor Wessing's employment team adds that German law has no concept of a co- or dual employment relationship. Whether the permit applies depends on where the work is done.

The employee works in Germany. The permit requirement applies, including when the person also works online from abroad. Three rules follow from it:

• The same worker may stay with you for at most 18 consecutive months.
• Earlier assignments count if the gap between them is three months or less.
• The leased worker is entitled to your essential working conditions, including pay.

The employee stays abroad and works only online for you. The Federal Employment Agency's guidance, valid from 1 July 2026, says the permit requirement does not reach this case, for lack of a sufficient domestic link.

That is the agency's reading, not a statute, and no supreme-court ruling exists yet.

The employer of record page covers licences, costs and the limits of the model.

When contractors are the right route

Contractors fit when the person is not bound by your instructions and is not integrated into your work organisation. Social security law uses these two indicators for employment.

The contract label does not decide it if the actual performance shows an employment relationship.

The Federal Social Court's ruling of 28 June 2022 (B 12 R 3/20 R, "Herrenberg") reset the test. A music-school teacher whose contract said self-employed was held to be in dependent employment.

She was integrated into the school's organisation and had almost no entrepreneurial freedom.

The contractors page works through the test in full.

The German labour market and what people earn

Full-time employees in Germany earned €4,851 / month gross on average in 2025, excluding special payments such as bonuses, according to Destatis, the federal statistics office.

An average hides the spread, so look at three more measures:

• Median annual gross, including special payments: €54,066. Half of full-time employees earned less.
• Arithmetic mean: €64,441, higher because the top earners pull it up.
• Bottom and top 10%: the bottom 10% earned €33,828 a year or less, the top 10% €100,719 or more.

For your hiring budget, start from the figure for your own sector rather than the whole-economy number. The sectors sit far apart.

Salary reference points

Average full-time monthly gross, all sectors, 2025 (excluding special payments)	€4,851	Destatis
Average full-time monthly gross, April 2025: whole economy	€4,784	Destatis
Average full-time monthly gross, April 2025: information and communication	€6,141	Destatis
Average full-time annual gross, 2025 (including special payments): information and communication	€86,638	Destatis
Average full-time annual gross, 2025 (including special payments): whole economy	€64,441	Destatis
Median annual gross, full-time, 2025	€54,066	Destatis
Bottom 10% / top 10% of full-time employees, annual gross, 2025	€33,828 or less / €100,719 or more	Destatis
Full-time minimum wage, 2026 (€13.90 × 173.33 hours, which is 40 h × 52 weeks ÷ 12)	€2,409.29 a month	BMAS

Sector moves pay most. In April 2025 information and communication averaged €6,141 a month against €4,784 for the whole economy, and the annual figures show the same gap.

These are employee gross figures. A contractor's day rate is a different calculation, covered on the contractors page.

Registering as an employer, step by step

To register as an employer you need an establishment number, an accident-insurer notice and a social-insurance report for each employee. No authority publishes a total duration for the process.

Step	What happens	Takes
1. Choose entity or direct registration	Found a GmbH, which needs €25,000 share capital (a UG needs less), or register employees directly as a foreign employer	No official duration
2. Betriebsnummer (employer number)	Apply electronically to the Federal Employment Agency, for each place of employment, to take part in social-insurance reporting	No official duration published
3. Accident insurer	Notify the statutory accident insurer of the type of business and the number of insured persons	Within one week of starting operations
4. Written contract terms	Hand the employee the written essential terms, some on the first day, others by the seventh day, the rest within one month. Electronic form alone is not enough. A missing or late document is a fineable offence of up to €2,000	Day 1, day 7 or one month, by term
5. Report the employee	Report each insured employee to the collection agency (Einzugsstelle) when insured employment begins, and again when it ends	At the start of employment; the filing deadline is set in the reporting ordinance (DEÜV)
6. Monthly contributions	Pay social-insurance contributions in expected amount	Third-last bank working day of the month in which the work was done
7. Wage tax return	File the return and pay the withheld tax to the establishment's tax office; only where a permanent establishment exists	By the 10th day after each reporting period
Total	Statutes give deadlines only. Do not plan on vendor claims of days	No official total

Five statutory duties in order, with their deadlines. No official source gives a processing time for any step.

Does one remote employee create a permanent establishment?

A single employee working from home in Germany regularly does not create a permanent establishment for your company.

Rödl & Partner and the DIHK read the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 18 June 2026 that way: the employer has no power of disposal over the employee's home.

Rödl & Partner commented on the letter on 29 June 2026:

Inbound cases: a permanent establishment regularly does not exist, for lack of power of disposal.

— Diana Fischer, Partner and tax adviser, and Dr. Beate Wohlfahrt, Associate Partner, Rödl & Partner (translated from German)

The exception is a management function exercised from the home office. The chamber of commerce association DIHK says it remains unclear which activities count as management functions.

The wage-tax withholding duty follows the permanent establishment. Where none exists, step 7 falls away and the social-insurance steps remain.

Hiring and onboarding in Germany

You can use fixed or open-ended contracts, but written terms, probation limits and dismissal protection are set by statute.

Legal limits on the contract

• Probation: up to 6 months, with two weeks' notice during it.
• Written terms: you must hand over the essential terms in writing. A missing or late document carries a fine of up to €2,000, and electronic form alone does not count.
• Form of dismissal: a dismissal is valid only in writing; electronic form is excluded.
• Dismissal protection: it starts once employment has lasted more than six months. It applies only in establishments with more than ten employees, for employment that began after 31 December 2003.
• Works council: employees can elect one in establishments with at least five permanent eligible employees, and you must hear it before every dismissal.

The thresholds table in the termination section below shows how these limits combine.

Onboarding checklist

1. Decide between your own entity and direct registration as a foreign employer.
2. Apply for the Betriebsnummer (employer number) for each place of employment.
3. Notify the statutory accident insurer within one week of starting operations.
4. Give the written contract terms: the first set on day 1, the next by day 7, the rest within one month.
5. Report the employee to the collection agency (Einzugsstelle) when insured employment begins.
6. Set payroll to the contribution rates and ceilings in the Taxes and contributions section.
7. Set up wage-tax withholding only if you have a permanent establishment in Germany.
8. Enter the leave entitlement of 20 days on a five-day week.
9. Diary the end of probation: two weeks' notice applies until then, and dismissal protection starts after six months.

Visas and work permits for non-EU hires

A skilled worker from outside the EU usually needs a residence title. The EU Blue Card sets a minimum salary tied to the annual pension contribution ceiling.

Blue Card, general threshold	50% of the annual pension ceiling: €50,700 in 2026	AufenthG § 18g
Blue Card, shortage occupations and recent graduates	45.3% of the ceiling: €45,934.20 in 2026, with Federal Employment Agency approval	AufenthG § 18g
Accelerated skilled-worker procedure	Employers can apply at the immigration authority, under an agreement with it	AufenthG § 81a
2027 thresholds (draft)	€53,100 and €48,108.60, if the draft 2027 pension ceiling of €106,200 is adopted	BMAS draft

Both thresholds are percentages of the ceiling, so they move whenever the ceiling moves. The 2027 figures are not law: the ordinance that sets the ceiling is still a draft.

No processing time is published for a Blue Card or a skilled-worker visa. Agree your start date with the immigration authority rather than from a general estimate.

Minimum wage in Germany

The statutory minimum wage is €13.90 / hour since 1 January 2026. It rises to €14.60 from 1 January 2027 under the same ordinance.

Current rate	€13.90 / hour, since 1 January 2026	BMAS
2027 rate	€14.60 / hour, from 1 January 2027	BMAS
Full-time monthly equivalent, 2026	€2,409.29 (40 h × 52 weeks ÷ 12)	BMAS, calculated
Full-time monthly equivalent, 2027	€2,530.62, which is 5.04% more	BMAS, calculated
Fine for not paying, or not paying on time	Up to €500,000	MiLoG § 21
Next adjustment	The Minimum Wage Commission decides every two years; the next decision falls in 2027, for the rate from 1 January 2028	MiLoG § 9

The rate rises from €9.50 in January 2021 to €14.60 in January 2027. The 2027 step is set but not yet in force. The same steps in a table:

1 January 2021	€9.50	BMAS, MiLoV3
1 July 2021	€9.60	BMAS, MiLoV3
1 January 2022	€9.82	BMAS, MiLoV3
1 July 2022	€10.45, overtaken by the €12 statute on 1 October 2022	BMAS, MiLoV3
1 October 2022	€12.00	MiLoG § 1
1 January 2024	€12.41	MiLoV4
1 January 2025	€12.82	MiLoV4
1 January 2026	€13.90	BMAS
1 January 2027	€14.60	BMAS

Mini-jobs follow the minimum wage. The monthly earnings limit is €603 in 2026 because of the €13.90 rate.

A bill the cabinet adopted on 30 September 2026 would require you to pay long-term-care contributions on mini-job earnings from 1 January 2028.

If you use leased workers under the AÜG, the Seventh Ordinance on a wage floor in employee leasing sets their own floor:

• €14.96 an hour from 1 July 2026
• €15.33 from 1 September 2026
• €15.87 from 1 April 2027

The employer of record page covers how it applies.

Taxes and contributions

You pay 21.3% of gross: four social-insurance branches and the insolvency levy, each capped by one of two monthly ceilings. Income tax is withheld from the employee and runs 14–45%.

Income tax for the employee

The 2026 tariff taxes nothing up to a basic allowance (Grundfreibetrag) of €12,348. From there the rate starts at 14% and rises by formula through two zones to 42% from €69,879.

A rate of 45% applies above €277,826. Solidarity surcharge and church tax come on top.

A government bill dated 4 September 2026 (Bundesrat document 507/26) would change this from 1 January 2027:

• The allowance would rise to €12,564.
• The 42% band would start at €70,601.
• The 45% rate would apply from €250,000.
• A new 47% band would start at €280,000.

It is a bill, not law.

Contribution rates and ceilings

Branch	Employer share	Ceiling per month
Pension	9.3% (half of 18.6%)	€8,450
Unemployment	1.3% (half of 2.6%)	€8,450
Health	8.75%: 7.3% plus half of the 2.9% average additional contribution	€5,812.50
Long-term care	1.8% outside Saxony	€5,812.50
Insolvency levy	0.15%	Assessed on pay subject to pension insurance, so €8,450

The four insurance branches make 21.15%; the 0.15% insolvency levy brings your statutory share to 21.3%.

Each health insurer sets its own additional rate. Techniker Krankenkasse, for example, charges 2.69% in 2026.

Employees without children aged 23 or over pay an extra 0.6% in long-term care on their own, which does not change your cost.

What an employee actually costs you

Your contributions stop growing once pay passes the ceilings, so the percentage you pay on top falls as salary rises:

• Below €5,812.50 a month: you pay 21.3% of gross.
• Between €5,812.50 and €8,450: the health and care parts stop growing, while pension and unemployment continue.
• From €8,450 upward: you pay at most €1,521.60 a month, whatever the salary.

Gross per month	Employer contributions	Share of gross	Total monthly cost	Total annual cost
€2,409.29 (full-time minimum wage)	€513.17	21.3%	€2,922.46	€35,069.52
€4,851 (average salary)	€1,033.26	21.3%	€5,884.26	€70,611.12
€6,141 (information and communication average)	€1,273.37	20.74%	€7,414.37	€88,972.44
€8,393.25 (top-decile pay, €100,719 ÷ 12)	€1,515.49	18.06%	€9,908.74	€118,904.88
€12,000 (illustrative senior salary)	€1,521.60	12.68%	€13,521.60	€162,259.20
€20,000 (illustrative executive salary)	€1,521.60	7.61%	€21,521.60	€258,259.20

The table uses the 2026 rates and ceilings from Deutsche Rentenversicherung Nord, outside Saxony. It excludes voluntary benefits and provider fees.

Contributions flatten at about €1,522 a month from €8,450 of gross pay. As a share of gross: 21.3% up to €5,812.50, then 18.01% at €8,450, 12.68% at €12,000 and 7.61% at €20,000.

A senior hire costs far more in absolute terms but carries a much lower percentage on top.

On the average salary, an employee costs you about €307 per working day. On the information-and-communication average the cost is about €387, before sick days and benefits.

Both divide the annual cost by 230 working days: 260 weekdays less 20 leave days and 10 public holidays (the Hesse count; states have between 10 and 13).

Set that day cost against a contractor's day rate when you choose a route. The contractors page covers the other side.

Two items sit on top of 21.3% and have no single national figure. Accident insurance is owed by the employer alone. The sick-pay and maternity levies (U1 and U2) are set by the insurer. Ask your insurer for both.

What changes on 1 January 2027

The 2027 ceilings are a draft. A BMAS draft ordinance would raise:

• the pension and unemployment ceiling from €8,450 to €8,850;
• the health and care ceiling from €5,812.50 to €6,375 a month.

The federal government must adopt the ordinance and the Bundesrat must consent.

The health ceiling for 2027 is already tied by law to the compulsory-insurance threshold plus €3,600 a year, in force since 30 July 2026. At 2026 rates the draft ceilings would raise your maximum monthly employer contribution by €102.34.

If you pay people above the current ceilings, you pay more. Pay below €5,812.50 is unaffected by the ceiling change. The 2027 additional health rate and pension rate are not yet set.

Working time and overtime

The Working Time Act limits the working day to eight hours. It allows up to ten hours only if the average of eight hours a working day is kept within six calendar months or 24 weeks.

So ten-hour days are legal in Germany, with that condition. An employee who works ten hours one day must work shorter days elsewhere in the 24-week or six-month window, so that the average stays at eight hours.

A ministry draft to amend the Act, leaked on 18 June 2026, would tie a weekly limit instead of a daily one to a collective agreement, or to a works agreement based on one.

The draft keeps electronic time recording. It is not law, so no weekly hour limit applies on the strength of it.

A government tax bill would also raise the tax-free cap on Sunday and holiday supplements to €75, while night work stays at €50. The bill would apply from 2027 and is not yet law.

Leave, sick pay and parental leave

Statutory annual leave is 24 working days counted on a six-day week, which is 20 days on a five-day week, under the Federal Leave Act.

Public holidays are set by each state's own law. Up to 13 apply, depending on where the employee works: Bavaria has 13 in Catholic municipalities, the most of any state, and Hesse has 10.

Sick pay

You pay sick pay for up to six weeks of incapacity for work. The entitlement arises after four weeks of uninterrupted employment, so an employee who falls ill in the first month has no claim against you yet.

Maternity and parental leave

Maternity protection	Six weeks before and eight weeks after birth; twelve weeks after for premature or multiple births	MuSchG § 3
Employer top-up	The difference between €13 a day and the average net daily pay of the last three months before the protection period	MuSchG § 20
Parental leave (Elternzeit)	Until the child's third birthday; up to 24 months can be taken between the third and eighth birthdays	BEEG § 15

Termination: notice periods and what ending a job costs

Employer notice runs from 4 weeks – 7 months depending on tenure, and after the first stage it always ends at the end of a calendar month.

Tenure	Employer notice
Under 2 years	4 weeks, to the 15th or the end of a calendar month
2 years	1 month
5 years	2 months
8 years	3 months
10 years	4 months
12 years	5 months
15 years	6 months
20 years	7 months

Employee notice may not be longer than the employer's, and a collective agreement can set different periods, by sector or otherwise (BGB § 622).

Notice grows by about a month for every two to five years of service, from one month at two years to seven months at twenty.

Probation and dismissal protection

During probation of up to 6 months, either side can end the contract with two weeks' notice.

After six months of continuous employment, a dismissal must be socially justified, but that protection applies only in establishments with more than ten employees.

Every dismissal must be in writing. Where a works council exists, you must hear it first, and a dismissal without that hearing is invalid.

Severance

German law gives no general right to severance. One case creates it: you dismiss for operational reasons, offer severance in the dismissal letter, and the employee does not sue.

The amount is half a month's pay per year of service. At the €4,851 average, that is:

• €4,851 after 2 years
• €12,127.50 after 5 years
• €24,255 after 10 years

The offer is optional by design, and these figures are not a ceiling on a negotiated settlement. Notice is salary for the notice period, not an extra on top of severance.

What triggers at what size

4 weeks of employment	The employee's sick-pay entitlement arises	EntgFG § 3
Day 1, day 7, one month	Written contract terms are due, by item	NachwG § 2
5 permanent eligible employees	A works council can be elected	BetrVG § 1
6 months of employment	General dismissal protection begins	KSchG § 1
More than 10 employees	Dismissal protection applies to the establishment, for employment that began after 31 December 2003	KSchG § 23
Any dismissal	The works council must be heard, where one exists	BetrVG § 102

These thresholds work together: dismissal protection needs both six months of service and an establishment above ten employees.

If you have ten or fewer employees, you are outside general dismissal protection. The writing requirement and notice periods still apply.

Recent changes in German labour law

The changes in force in 2026 are the €13.90 minimum wage and the 2026 contribution ceilings; most 2027 items are still drafts. Each item carries its status: in force, adopted, bill or draft.

• Since 1 January 2026 (in force): minimum wage of €13.90 / hour, ceilings of €8,450 and €5,812.50, and a pension rate that stays at 18.6%.
• In force, Aktivrente: employment income of up to €24,000 a year is income-tax exempt after the statutory retirement age, provided the employer pays pension contributions.
• 7 June 2026 (deadline missed): Germany did not transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive on time. In July 2026 the government said the lead ministry was still clarifying individual questions before starting the legislative process.
• Pay transparency (adviser views): Baker McKenzie wrote on 24 September 2026 that no draft has been published and implementation is not expected before early 2027. Addleshaw Goddard expects first reporting obligations in June 2028.
• 18 June 2026 (letter): the Federal Ministry of Finance letter on home-office permanent establishments, covered in the registration section.
• 18 June 2026 (draft): the leaked Working Time Act draft described in the working-time section. It is not law.
• 1 July 2026 (in force): the Federal Employment Agency's leasing guidance on online work from abroad, and the first step of the wage floor for leased workers, €14.96 an hour.
• 30 July 2026 (in force): the GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz, which ties the 2027 health ceiling to the compulsory-insurance threshold plus €3,600 a year.
• 30 September 2026 (cabinet bill): the Pflegeneuordnungsgesetz bill would raise the childless surcharge in long-term care by 0.3 points, to 0.9 in total, from 1 January 2027. Employees pay it alone, so your cost does not change.
• 2 December 2026 (deadline): transposition deadline for the EU Platform Work Directive. The labour ministry said in April 2026 that it was drafting the bill; no bill text has been published.
• 1 January 2027 (adopted ordinance): minimum wage of €14.60 / hour.
• 1 January 2027 (draft): social-insurance ceilings of €8,850 and €6,375 under a draft ordinance, and the income-tax changes in the government bill: allowance of €12,564 and a 47% band from €280,000.
• 2027 (e-invoice transition, in force by statute): paper and other non-structured invoices remain allowed alongside e-invoices only for domestic businesses with prior-year turnover up to €800,000.
• Status reform, announced 3 March 2026: the government said it was preparing a reform of status determination for the self-employed. The contractors page covers the substance.
• Status reform, 26 March 2026 (ministry draft): the draft (Referentenentwurf) would apply from 1 January 2028. It has not reached cabinet, the Bundestag or the Bundesrat. Bird & Bird considers it unlikely to pass in its current form.
• 1 January 2028 (bill): long-term-care contributions on mini-jobs, under the same Pflegeneuordnungsgesetz bill.
• 1 January 2028 (in force by statute): partial incapacity for work becomes possible under the GKV law, with the employer to answer within seven calendar days.
• 1 January 2028 (in force by statute): e-invoices become mandatory for all domestic business-to-business turnover.
• 1 January 2028 (in force by statute): corporation tax falls from 15% to 14% for 2028 and reaches 10% from 2032, which matters for the own-entity route.

The additional health rate and the pension rate for 2027 are not yet set. Costs for pay above €5,812.50 a month will change if the ceilings ordinance is adopted.

What a mistake costs and who pays

Most penalties land on the employer or the client, and back contributions can be claimed for years after the mistake.

Party	Risk	Amount
Employer	Not paying the minimum wage, or paying late	Fine of up to €500,000
Employer	Missing or late written contract terms	Fine of up to €2,000
Employer	Withholding the employee's share of social-insurance contributions	Up to five years' imprisonment or a fine
Client	Using the worker of an unlicensed lender, as set out in the AÜG penalty provision	Fine of up to €30,000
Provider (lender)	Leasing the same worker beyond 18 months, under the same penalty provision	Fine of up to €30,000
Provider (lender)	Not granting a leased worker equal treatment under AÜG § 8	Fine of up to €500,000
Client	Letting a leased foreign worker without the required work permit work	Fine of up to €500,000
Client	Contract with an unlicensed lender	The contracts are void and an employment relationship with the client is deemed to arise
Client	A contractor reclassified as an employee	Back contributions of about €30,450 over 12 months at €6,141 monthly pay, plus a 1% surcharge for each started month of arrears

The reclassification amount counts the employer and employee shares on €6,141 a month with the health and care ceiling applied. It excludes the surcharge and fines.

Over 24 months it comes to about €60,901, and over 48 months to about €121,802.

Limitation is four years after the end of the calendar year in which the contributions fell due, and thirty years if they were withheld intentionally.

The 1% surcharge is not levied on a retroactive claim if the debtor shows he was unaware of the duty through no fault of his own.

Most of that burden stays with you as the client. You can recover the employee's share from the worker only by deducting it from the next three pay payments, unless the omission was not the employer's fault.

The contractors page sets out how status is tested and what the full reclassification exposure looks like.

Questions people actually ask

What is the minimum wage in Germany per hour and per month?

The statutory minimum wage is €13.90 / hour since 1 January 2026. For full-time work at 40 hours a week that is €2,409.29 gross a month. It rises to €14.60 an hour on 1 January 2027 (€2,530.62 a month).

Can a foreign company hire in Germany without setting up a company?

Yes. A foreign employer can register its employees for German social insurance directly and pay contributions as if it were a German company. It withholds wage tax only if it has a permanent establishment or permanent representative in Germany.

How much does an employer pay on top of a German salary?

Employer social contributions are 21.3% of gross, including the 0.15% insolvency levy. They are capped by ceilings, so at €12,000 a month the employer pays €1,521.60, the monthly maximum, which is 12.68% of gross.

What is the average salary in Germany?

Full-time employees earned €4,851 gross a month on average in 2025, excluding special payments. The median annual gross including special payments was €54,066. Information and communication averaged €6,141 a month in April 2025.

Can you be fired without warning in Germany?

Not as a rule. Probation allows two weeks' notice; after that the employer's notice runs from 4 weeks to 7 months by tenure. A dismissal must be in writing, and where a works council exists it must be heard first.

Is it legal to work 10 hours a day in Germany?

Yes. A working day may run to ten hours if the average stays at eight hours a working day over six calendar months or 24 weeks. A ministry draft would change this, but it is not law.

How many vacation days are required in Germany?

The statutory minimum is 24 working days on a six-day week, which is 20 days on a five-day week. Public holidays come on top and vary by state: Hesse has 10 and Bavaria has up to 13 in Catholic municipalities.

What is the new law in Germany in 2026?

The main enacted changes are the €13.90 minimum wage and the 2026 contribution ceilings. The 2027 ceilings, income-tax bands and the status reform for the self-employed are still drafts. The Recent changes section lists each one with its status.

Sources

1. Federal Ministry of Justice. Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (AÜG), § 1 Erlaubnispflicht. Accessed 6 October 2026.
2. Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). Mindestlohn steigt zum 1. Januar 2026. Accessed 6 October 2026.
3. Federal Ministry of Justice. GmbHG, § 5 Stammkapital. Accessed 6 October 2026.
4. Federal Ministry of Justice. BGB, § 622 Kündigungsfristen bei Arbeitsverhältnissen. Accessed 6 October 2026.
5. Federal Ministry of Justice. KSchG, § 1 Sozial ungerechtfertigte Kündigungen. Accessed 6 October 2026.
6. Federal Ministry of Justice. BGB, § 621 Kündigungsfristen bei Dienstverhältnissen. Accessed 6 October 2026.
7. Rizzo & Associates. Registration as foreign employer in Germany for remote workers. Accessed 6 October 2026.
8. Federal Ministry of Justice. SGB IV, § 28a Meldepflicht. Accessed 6 October 2026.
9. Federal Ministry of Justice. EStG, § 38 Erhebung der Lohnsteuer. Accessed 6 October 2026.
10. Taylor Wessing. 10 pitfalls when using an EOR in Germany, 6 May 2025. Accessed 6 October 2026.
11. Federal Employment Agency. Fachliche Weisungen zum Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz. Accessed 6 October 2026.
12. Federal Ministry of Justice. AÜG, § 8 Grundsatz der Gleichstellung. Accessed 6 October 2026.
13. Federal Ministry of Justice. SGB IV, § 7 Beschäftigung. Accessed 6 October 2026.
14. Federal Ministry of Justice. BGB, § 611a Arbeitsvertrag. Accessed 6 October 2026.
15. Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Herrenberg-Urteil: Was ist das?. Accessed 6 October 2026.
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