Coronavirus: Work

The German law has not foreseen any legal entitlement to work from home for the employees. However, the employer is responsible for workplace safety. So employees can work from home so if their employer agrees. In case that is not a viable option, everyone in the workplace must keep a safe distance or wear masks. Talk to your superior and inquire about feasible health-related measures. Sometimes, “home-office” as an option is regulated in firm-level or a collective agreements.

If your employer ignores employees' safety and well-being, speak to the works council in your company or inform the Health Office (“Gesunheitsamt”) in your area. You can find the proper Health Office via Behördenwegweiser.

Overtime is when an employee works more than the agreed regular working hours. In principle, employees only have to work overtime if a collective agreement, a firm-level agreement or their employment contract requires them to do so. In exceptional situations, however, i.e. at times of disaster and emergency (e.g. flooding in office), or at times of particular operational necessity (e.g. when the fulfilment of specific tasks in a short notice is crucial for the survival of the company and many colleagues are ill and incapable of work), all employees are obliged to work overtime, regardless of their contract or collective agreement.


Whether the overtime is compensated by extra pay or additional free time is often regulated in the employment contract. If according to the employment contract, your overtime work is to be compensated either with wages or with free time, then, your overtime hours may not amount to more than 10% of the contractually agreed working hours. If overtime is not regulated in your employment contract, you will often receive your regular hourly wages for the overtime hours- but only if your superiors have ordered the overtime and you have documented the overtime work in writing. To do so, you need to write down your overtime and have it signed by your supervisor.
Please note: Employees who receive larger salaries (higher than 5800 euro gross in East Germany and 6500 euro in West Germany) are not paid extra for overtime.

Please note: Employees who receive larger salaries (higher than 5800 euro gross in East Germany and 6500 euro in West Germany) are not paid extra for overtime.

If the daycare centres and schools have to close due to Corona pandemic, children stay home the whole day. So working parents have to find someone to take care of their children during worktime. In 2021, working parents who have to stay home to care for children due to corona-related school and Kindergarten closures are entitled to 10 days of paid leave- and single parents are entitled to 20 days. That means you will receive wages for these days and the government will reimburse the employer.

In case these 10 (or 20) days do not suffice: Parents who are unable to work because they have to provide full-time care to their children due to closure of schools and daycare centres and have little to no income will be compensated. The compensation amounts to 67% of your net wages (maximum 2,016 euro) and is paid for a maximum of ten weeks.

Important: Each parent can receive compensation for up to 10 weeks. Single parents are entitled to receive compensation for up to 20 weeks.

You can only receive the mentioned compensation if you meet the following requirements:

• Your child is under the age of 12 or needs care because of a disability.
• There is no one else available in your household to look after your child.
• You have already balanced your overtime and do not have any paid vacation left.

The employer applies for compensation on behalf of the employees. The self-employed must contact the Health Office responsible. You can find the proper Health Office at Behördenwegweiser.

Please note: There are emergency childcare services for children whose parents work in certain professions (e.g. police, fire brigade, hospital staff, energy supply, etc.). If you have a job like this, ask your child's school/ daycare centre or the responsible Schooling authorities ("Schulamt") about the regulations which apply to you, since there are no uniform regulations in this regard throughout Germany.

An employer is obliged to send you home when you are sick. You will continue receiving wages while sick. You can learn more about missing work during illness in our chapter “Sick Leave”. If an employer decides to send fit and ready-to-work personnel home as a precautionary measure, he/she remains obliged to pay the wages. When that is the case, the employee does not have to make up for lost working hours.

No. The employee is solely responsible for finding a way to get to the place of work.

Individuals who are ordered by health authorities to stay home due to suspicion of contagion and to protect the public health will suffer an income loss which will be compensated. For the first six weeks you have to spend in isolation, your employer will continue to pay your full wage and then apply for and have it reimbursed. Starting the seventh week, you will receive sickness benefits ("Krankgeld") instead. You can learn more in our chapter “Sick Leave”.

Please note: If you knowingly travelled to a risk area, your employer does not have to pay you a wage for the time you must stay in quarantine- unless you can work from home. Whether you have a right to compensation from the state is currently legally controversial and varies from state to state. It is in your best interest to seek advice for your specific case, for instance, from Faire Integration.

Important: If you are already quarantined abroad and cannot work from home, your employer does not have to pay you. When that is the case, you are also not entitled to compensation from the German state.

If you cannot return from vacation due to closed borders and consequently cannot come to work, your employer does not have to pay you. Nor do they get any compensation from the state. If your employer threatens you with a warning or dismissal, you should definitely seek advice from Faire Integration's counselling centres.

Yes. When an employee falls ill, he or she is entitled to receive wages despite being unable to work for six weeks. Starting the seventh week, you will start to receive sickness benefit ("Krankgeld"). Learn more in our chapter “Sick Leave”.

If an employer has to temporarily close due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he/she remains obliged to pay wages if the employees are fit and ready to work. The missed working hours are not to be made up for later by the employee. If other regulations are included in your contract or collective agreement, those apply. 

If a company is closed for longer, "short-time work" or compulsory redundancies may be adopted. You can learn more about “Kurzarbeit” or “short-term work” in the section below. To learn more about dismissal/quitting in Germany, check our chapter “Termination of Employment Contract”.

When your right of residence dependent on the continuation of your employment and you lose your job, you may have to leave the country. If that is not possible, you will be issued a "Duldung" or tolerated stay permit. You can learn more about this type of stay permit in our chapter "Duldung". Contact the Immigration Office responsible for you to find out more. You can find the proper Immigration Office at webgis.bamf.de.

When the spread of Coronavirus results in limitation or a total halt of the production process, the employers can apply for short-term work or "Kurzarbeit" at the Employment Agency. For employees, "short-time work" either means that their working hours are reduced, or they will have to stop working for the time altogether. The employees, however, remain employed and receive a part of their wages which is known as “Kurzarbeitergeld” or “short-time work benefits”. According to this scheme, the employees are paid 60 or (they have children) 67 per cent of their net salary for a period of up to 24 months.

If your working time is reduced by at least 50 per cent, your short-time work benefits will increase by time: After four months of collecting short-time allowance, its amount will rise to equal 70% (or 77%, if you have children) of your net salary. From the 7th month, you will receive 80% (or 87%, if you have children) of your net salary as "Kürzarbeitgeld". Such regulation currently applies until December 31, 2021.

The funds are paid by the Employment Agency in order to avoid redundancies at workplaces.

Employers need to directly apply for short-term work- you can also find more information concerning short-time work and other new guidelines on the website of the Federal Employment Agency.

Please note: Receiving short-time work benefits will not negatively affect your prospect of residence In Germany. Your residence permit assumes that you are not allowed to receive any money from the state, but you are now receiving short-time work benefits? You do not need to worry. Your residence permit remains valid.

Yes. You can work on the side while receiving short-time work benefits. From May 1, 2020, if your earnings from your side-job and your short-time work benefits amount up to your previous income, your benefits will not be cut short because of your side job. Up until now, the additional earnings from a side job would have resulted in the reduction of short-time work benefits if you started the part-time job after you begin to receive short-time work benefits. According to the new regulation which currently applies until December 31, 2020, that no longer applies- so You can earn up to the amount of your previous income without affecting the amount of your short-time benefits.

If you do not have a valid work permit, ask the appropriate Immigration Office whether you can work part-time. Currently, you can only do so per phone or email.

For more information about part-time jobs, check our chapter "Labour Rights". You can also find out more about mini-jobs in our chapter "Mini-job".

Since the Corona crisis, subcontracted workers can also benefit from short-time work allowance. You can find out more about short-time work in the section "What does it mean if my company switches to short-time work?"

Please note: Subcontracted workers are also entitled to unemployment benefits. You can find out more about this in the section "What can I do if I am fired or earn little?".

In principle, short-time work does not apply to trainees. The company must first think of other options, e.g. change the curriculum or move you to another department. Only when other options fail can short-time work be arranged for trainees. In that case, you will continue to receive your full training salary for at least six weeks. Only after these six weeks will you receive short-time work benefits. If the short-time allowance is not enough to live on, you can also apply for unemployment benefit II. To learn more check the section "What can I do if I am fired or earn little?".

If you need more comprehensive information about vocational training in times of Coronavirus, check ausbildung.de.