Working Life > Employee

Employee: Definition, Rights and Obligations

Definition, Explanation

By definition, an employee is someone who is “obliged by a civil law contract to work in service of another person in personal dependency” (Rechtswörterbuch.de). As soon as an employment contract has been signed, the former jobseeker, therefore, becomes an employee who provides labour service to the employer for remuneration. In contrast, a self-employed does not have any employment-relationship with someone else.

The distinction of employees and self-employed is not always clear, e.g. in cases of false self-employment. In some cases, it is not clear whether someone is an employee or not, and it is a matter of perspective. E.g. managing directors are not employees in terms of labour law but are employees in terms of social security law since they deduce contributions to social insurance and therefore are entitled e.g. to receive unemployment benefit.

Who counts as an employee (in the broader sense):

• Employed
• Workers
• Apprentices
• Interns
• Works council members
• Managing directors and managers
• Mini-Jobbers
• Minor-Employed

Groups of labour-suppliers not counting as employees are:

• Clerks (since there is no civil law employment relationship)
• Self-employed (liberal-professionals, traders) and the supporting family members

Employee-like persons are:

• Home workers
• Sales representatives
• Persons acting as independent businessmen but work for one client only (see false self-employment or employee-like self-employed)

Characteristics of an employee:

• A civil-law employment relation is contracted, in an employment contract
• The employee is embedded in the organization of the employer
• The employee is subject to the employer’s directives concerning content, exerting, time, duration and place of work
• The employee requires social protection

Special groups of employees under special protection in a company:

• Interns
• Works council members
• Disabled / severely disabled
• Women / pregnant women
• Juveniles

The rights and obligations of an employee are defined in his or her employment contract, as well as in the collective agreement, in the company agreement and in acts of law. Basically, those are:

Rights of an employee:

• To receive remuneration for supplied labour
• Right to be employed
• Freedom of expression whereas interests of employers, clients and co-contractors must be respected
• Right to equal treatment
• Right to view one’s personnel file
• Right to vacation, parental leave and to undisturbed recreation
• Right to breaks, e.g. lunch break
• Right to be handed out an employment certificate after being dismissed
• Right to be cared for according to the employer’s obligation of care
• Right to dismissal protection as soon as the employment relation has been lasting for 6 months
• Right to co-determination if there are 5 or more permanently employed, as defined in Labour Management Relations Act

Obligations of an employee:

• Handing of income tax card and social insurance certificate to the company’s personnel management
• Obligation to supply labour / to do service: Contracted performance must be provided
• Obligation of loyalty: The employee must espouse the company’s interests
• Obligation to obey, respectively to have consideration for the company, which is for assuring security and order
• Obligation of secrecy
• Obligation to handle material and tools carefully
• Obligation to apply security measures according to the employer’s directives
• Obligation to report sick
• Obligation to report on the current state of one’s work
• Obligation to provide true data, e.g. accessory charges, loss of earnings
• Restraint on competition: The employee must not act as a direct competitor of the employer
• Obligation to report pregnancy as an employee
• Obligation to report an employee invention

If the employee violates an obligation, the employer can react with a warning. A warning nomally must precede dismissal.

Last update: 06/01/2010