EU Directive – Effective today: Employment contracts must now look significantly different

Employers have various information and documentation obligations, which are regulated in Germany in the so-called Proof Act (NachwG).
Among other things, your employer must provide you with the most important information in the employment contract, such as working hours, notice periods and salary.

What is currently in the contract

This obligation to provide information is now being expanded due to the new EU Directive 2019/1152. We give you an overview of what
from August 1, 2022
everything belongs in new employment contracts – and why employees with existing contracts also benefit from this.

Previously, the following points had to be included in an employment contract:

• Name and address of the contracting parties
• Date of commencement of the employment relationship
• Duration of the employment relationship in the case of a fixed-term contract
• workplace
• Job title or description
• Composition and amount of wages
• working time
• Length of annual vacation leave
• notice periods
• General reference to collective agreements, company and service agreements that are applicable to the employment relationship.

Everything has to be in the contract in the future

With the new EU directive and the associated amendment to the law, these requirements are changing. In addition to the above points, employers must now also provide the following information:

• End date of employment
• The composition and amount of pay, including overtime pay, surcharges, allowances, bonuses and special payments and other components of pay, each of which must be specified separately, and their due date and type of payment
• The agreed working hours, agreed rest breaks and rest periods and, in the case of agreed shift work, the shift system, the shift rhythm and the requirements for shift changes
• Any entitlement to training provided by the employer
• if necessary, free choice of place of work by the employee

• If the employer promises the employee a company pension through a pension provider, the name and address of this provider; the obligation to provide evidence does not apply if the pension provider is obliged to provide this information
• If agreed, the duration of the probationary period
• If agreed, the possibility of ordering overtime and its requirements
• The procedure to be followed by the employer and employee when terminating the employment relationship, at least the written form requirement and the deadlines for the termination of the employment relationship, as well as the deadline for filing an action for protection against unfair dismissal; Section 7 of the Protection Against Unfair Dismissal Act also applies if the deadline for filing an action for protection against unfair dismissal is not provided properly

What if I don’t have a new contract?

But the change in the law is not only important for new hires. Even if you have an existing employment contract, you have the right from August 1, 2022 to request the above information from your employer in writing.

Ideally, of course, your employer will have already informed you about this, especially if you have been working for the company for a long time.

But especially if you are unclear about regulations such as shift work or breaks, or if you were hired or changed jobs shortly before the deadline, the new feature can be of use to you.