In the midst of the vacation season, many employers in Germany are prompted to address old and new questions surrounding the issue of vacation. This Insight series: "On your mark! Get set! Vacation!" is designed to help employers keep track of recurring issues and answer important questions about German vacation law. In Part 1, we look at:

Must-Knows at the Beginning of the Employment Relationship

Question 1: Should the employment contract explicitly distinguish between statutory leave and contractual (additional) leave?

Our recommendation is “Yes!” Even though the distinction between statutory (minimum) leave and contractual (additional) leave is not mandatory, making such distinction regularly works in favor of employers.

In addition to the statutory minimum leave of 24 working days (for a 6-day week) or 20 working days per calendar year (for a 5-day week), it is not uncommon for employers to grant their employees so-called contractual additional leave. This regularly amounts to 5 to 10 working days and should be explicitly distinguished from the statutory minimum leave. This can be seen in the following examples:

• If an employment relationship is terminated by the employee in July of a calendar year, the employee shall be entitled to full annual leave from their employer. This entitlement always exists if the employment relationship ends in the second half of a calendar year. If no distinction is made in the employment contract between statutory (minimum) leave and...

Read Full Story: https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/your-mark-get-set-vacat...