Urlaubsanspruch: How Many Vacation Days Are You Actually Entitled To?

The Bundesurlaubsgesetz (Federal Vacation Act) sets Germany's statutory minimum paid annual leave at 20 working days a year, based on a standard five-day work week — 24 days if your contract runs a six-day week instead. Either way, that's the legal floor, not what most people actually get.

In practice, the overwhelming majority of German employers offer considerably more than the legal minimum — 25 to 30 days on a five-day week is the norm at most companies, sometimes set by a Tarifvertrag (collective bargaining agreement) rather than individual negotiation. Public holidays (which vary by state, from 9 to 13 a year) come on top of your Urlaubsanspruch, not counted against it.

Your full annual entitlement doesn't arrive the moment you start a job — it accrues in full only after six months of continuous employment (the Wartezeit). Start a job partway through the year, and your first-year entitlement is typically pro-rated for the months you've actually worked, not the full annual amount.

Unused vacation days generally have to be used within the calendar year, though most employers allow carrying days into the following year, usually with a deadline (commonly 31 March) after which unused days are lost — check your specific contract, since carryover rules aren't uniformly mandated by law and vary by employer.

If you leave a job with unused vacation days remaining, German law generally requires your employer to pay them out (Urlaubsabgeltung) rather than simply letting them expire — this is a real, enforceable entitlement, not a favor, and it's worth confirming your final payslip actually reflects it before you sign off on a departure.

One employer obligation that surprises people: since a 2019 European Court of Justice ruling, German employers are now required to proactively remind employees to take their remaining vacation days before year-end, and warn them the days will be lost otherwise — if your employer never told you, unused days may not actually be forfeited, a nuance worth knowing if you're ever in that situation.