🏢 Wegweiser Employers
Legal position: September 2026. These pages are information, not legal advice. According to secondary sources, the draft bill amending the Working Time Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz; electronic working time recording) has not yet been passed and does not apply. The flat-rate contributions for commercial mini-jobs (15% and 13%) are not backed by primary sources and are marked as such. What has not been checked is stated in the pages and on the sources page.
Frequently searched
🧭 Small employer: overview
🏠 Registering a home help: private household as employer
📄 Employment contract and Nachweisgesetz
💼 Mini-job and midi-job 2026
💶 Minimum wage 2026
✂️ Dismissal in a small business
All topic areas
🧭OverviewWhat small employers must generally observe, including in a private household.2 topics
📄Hiring & contractEmployment contract, Nachweisgesetz and family members helping in the business.2 topics
🏛️Mini-job, midi-job & registrations2026 earnings limits, registration, immediate notification, accident insurance.2 topics
💶Pay, leave & sicknessMinimum wage 2026, statutory minimum leave, continued pay during sickness and levies U1/U2.3 topics
⚖️Dismissal & fixed-term contractsProtection against dismissal in a small business, deadlines, fixed-term contracts.2 topics
🛡️Business, data & safetyWorking time recording, data protection, works council, occupational safety and work accidents.3 topics
🤝AdviceNationwide offices that advise employers.1 topic
🧭 Overview
What small employers must generally observe, including in a private household.
🧭Small employer: overviewIf you employ people, you have duties: contract, pay, registrations, leave, dismissal rules. Here you will find the most important points for small businesses and private households.
🏠Registering a home help: private household as employerCleaner, gardener, babysitter or care helper in the home: private individuals are employers too. For mini-jobs there is the simplified Haushaltsscheck (household cheque) procedure.
📄 Hiring & contract
Employment contract, Nachweisgesetz and family members helping in the business.
📄Employment contract and NachweisgesetzThe employer must document the most important contract terms in writing, with fixed deadlines from the first working day. Violations can cost up to €2,000.
👨👩👧Family members in the businessSpouse, children or parents help out in the business. Whether this is employment subject to social insurance contributions depends on the actual circumstances and can be clarified with the pension insurance.
🏛️ Mini-job, midi-job & registrations
2026 earnings limits, registration, immediate notification, accident insurance.
💼Mini-job and midi-job 2026Mini-job up to €603 a month, midi-job from €603.01 to €2,000. How the limits are calculated, what happens if they are exceeded and which registrations are required.
📋Registration, immediate notification and accident insuranceAnyone who hires must report the employment. In certain sectors immediately at the start of work. The Berufsgenossenschaft must be informed within one week.
💶 Pay, leave & sickness
Minimum wage 2026, statutory minimum leave, continued pay during sickness and levies U1/U2.
💶Minimum wage 2026€13.90 gross per hour from 1 January 2026, €14.60 from 1 January 2027. Who is exempt, what records are required and what fines threaten.
🏖️Granting leaveAt least 24 working days of leave a year, full entitlement after six months. This also applies to mini-jobbers and home helps.
🤒Sickness, continued pay and levies U1/U2Up to six weeks of pay during sickness after four weeks of employment. Small employers can have part of it reimbursed through the levies U1 and U2.
⚖️ Dismissal & fixed-term contracts
Protection against dismissal in a small business, deadlines, fixed-term contracts.
✂️Dismissal in a small businessDismissal only in writing, with notice. Full protection against dismissal applies only in larger businesses. Small businesses get relief, but not complete freedom.
⏳Fixed-term employment contractsFixed term with or without an objective reason: up to two years without a reason, extendable at most three times. Important: written form before work begins.
🛡️ Business, data & safety
Working time recording, data protection, works council, occupational safety and work accidents.
⏱️Working time recordingSince the Federal Labour Court decision of 13 September 2022, employers must record the start and end of work. A draft bill on working time reform exists but is not in force.
🔒Data protection and works councilEmployee data may only be processed if necessary. Works councils exist from five permanent employees entitled to vote; data protection officers from 20 persons.
🦺Occupational safety and work accidentsAssess hazards, report accidents: the Berufsgenossenschaft must be informed within three days if someone becomes unfit for work for more than three days.
🤝 Advice
Nationwide offices that advise employers.
For reference
📕Keyword indexAll terms from A to Z, with links to the matching topic pages.
📜Sources and methodWhere the information comes from and what is expressly uncertain.
🏠Other target groupsTo the overview of all Wegweiser portals.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.