GermanPedia

Rent control There is less and less affordable living space, especially in large cities and metropolitan areas. To control the rising rental prices, the German government introduced the rental cap (Mietpreisbremse). The rental cap was supposed to expire at the end of 2025. However, the government extended it until the end of 2029. Here are the things you should know about rent control. What is rent control? The rent cap means landlords cannot charge excessive rent and must comply with the...

Before your children can attend school, they should be able to do... In Germany, kids go to school when they are 6 or 7 years old. However, they must meet certain requirements before German primary schools admit them. Don't worry; the schools don't expect your child to read, write, or do math. What they expect is the following the child can understand and speak German can dress and undress independently able to resolve conflicts themselves (with words) okay, being separated from the parents...

One mistake is all it takes... One of the GermanPedia members recently wrote us about an incident. To protect their identity, we'll refer to them as Stefan. It was nice weather, and Stefan and his wife were going to visit their friend on her birthday. Stefan parked his car in a quiet neighborhood. He and his wife were excited to celebrate their friend's birthday. While Stefan was talking to his wife (Anne), Anne opened the car door. And all of a sudden... boom... A cyclist crashed into their...

Employer refused to pay wages Yesterday, I came across a Facebook post about the employer not paying three months of work wages. The affected person was asking for advice in a Facebook group. The individual and many writing in the comments didn't know their rights. As an employee, getting a salary every month is your right. If the employer refuses to pay the wages, they are punishable by law. Learn what you can do in such a situation here. Sue employer free of charge Employer forcing you to...

Easter in Germany Easter is a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it's also about welcoming spring. Germans like to celebrate Easter and perform a lot of traditional activities. You can surprise your German friends or neighbors by doing some of the Easter traditions with them. 😉 Here are the Easter traditions practiced in Germany. Let's start with the most common one. Easter bunny and finding eggs The most common and fun tradition is parents hiding the easter...

Quick updates From 4 March 2024, every employee in Germany is legally required to track their work hours. The employer must communicate this to their employees and give them access to a time booking system. Germany's labor shortage in the healthcare sector continues. To resolve this, the German government is relying on nurses immigrating from the Philippines to Germany. As of 2024, 6000 Flipinos nurses are working in Germany. More and more companies are asking their employees to come to the...

Deutsche Bhan and Lufthansa workers go on another strike You must have already read in the news about the two-day strike by DB and Lufthansa's group workers. For those who don't know, the DB workers union (GDL) is demanding to reduce the working hours from 38hrs per week to 35 hrs per week without reducing the wages. Verde, the workers' union of airport staff, is demanding a raise of 12.5% or at least 500 € per month, plus a 3000 € inflation bonus. The negotiations are ongoing, and no one...

Disputes between tenants and landlords Tenants' perspective Disputes between tenants and landlords over rent increase, utility bills, rental contract termination, etc. are common in Germany. There are 850,000 advice cases in tenants' associations in Germany in 2022. Advice cases are like tickets raised by tenants' association members for legal advice. Here is the percentage distribution of the advice cases. [1] 41.7% of cases are with regard to utility bills 17% of cases are with regard to...

Child sickness benefits You are entitled to leave from work to care for your sick child. Either your company or health insurer will pay you the salary during child sick leave. Many employers in Germany have excluded child sick pay in their contracts. So, the health insurance company pays 90% of the net wages lost during child sick leave. You can take 15 working days off per child and parent in a year. So, a family with two parents and one child can take 30 days of child sick leave. Private...

Rise in racism As you can read in the news, the support for the German political party AfD is increasing in Germany. As per the surveys conducted by several independent organizations, AfD may even win the elections in Thuringia. AfD propaganda is anti-immigrant. The leaders of AfD recently had a secret meeting where they discussed deporting immigrants. They even discussed deporting immigrants with German passports that are not well integrated. The news of this secret meeting led to protests...