As a mini-jobber in household-related services, you are treated the same as regular employees in almost all respects. This means that the usual contractually agreed notice periods must be observed, as must the minimum wage. You are entitled to sick pay, holiday pay and continued payment of wages on public holidays, as stipulated in the Federal Holiday Act. If your employer has not yet obtained sufficient information on the subject of holiday entitlement, we recommend this compilation by the Minijobzentrale as an overview.
1. How much holiday am I entitled to as a mini-jobber?
The exact amount of holiday entitlement you have depends on several factors. It is best to seek individual advice by calling the citizen's hotline of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. However, as a rough guide, you are generally entitled to four weeks of holiday per year. During this time, your remuneration will continue to be paid. Your holiday pay and remuneration for public holidays are not included in your regular hourly wage.
Multiply these four weeks by the number of days per week that you normally work to get your holiday entitlement. For example, if you work three times a week, you are entitled to 3 times 4, i.e. 12 days of holiday. If, on the other hand, you work five times a week, you are entitled to 5 times 4, i.e. 20 days of holiday per year. It is irrelevant how many hours per day you work. However, if you do not work the same number of days each week, the calculation is based on the year. In these cases, you can use a holiday calculator to calculate your holiday entitlement.
2. When can I start taking my holiday?
You are generally entitled to your full holiday entitlement after 6 months from the start of your employment. Until then, you can take 1/12 of your total holiday entitlement for each month worked. After three months of employment, you are therefore entitled to 3/12, i.e. a quarter of your total holiday entitlement, and so on.
In principle, you are free to agree with your employer to take your full holiday entitlement before the end of the 6 months if this makes sense for both parties. This means that you can take your holiday in the summer, even if you only started working in March, provided this is mutually agreed.
In general, your employer should take your holiday request into account. Conversely, however, you must give sufficient notice of your request and cannot simply insist on taking holiday at a specific time if there is a valid reason for refusal.
3. What about public holidays and remaining holiday entitlement?
The number of days you work per week and, in particular, which days you work is not only important for calculating your holiday entitlement, but also because of public holidays on which you are entitled to continued payment of your salary. For example, if your employment contract states that you only clean on Mondays, but the coming Monday coincides with a public holiday, you will get that day off. Your employer cannot oblige you to make up for this day on another weekday.
If you are unable to use up your entire holiday entitlement before the end of your employment, your employer must pay you for it. Conversely, however, if you resign in the fourth month of your employment but have already used up your full holiday entitlement, the excess holiday days cannot be deducted from your salary on a pro rata basis.