8 days of leave
of which statutory: 8 days · for guidance only
How it was calculated
| Statutory annual leave | 24 days (6-day week) × 2 ÷ 6 | 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Entitlement for the year | statutory leave only (no contract value entered) | 8 |
Do Minijobbers get paid leave?
Yes. Under § 1 of the Federal Leave Act (BUrlG), every employee is entitled to paid leave in every calendar year, and § 2 BUrlG makes no exception based on hours or earnings. The word Minijob (often written "mini-job" in English) does not appear in the law: social security law speaks of marginal employment (geringfügige Beschäftigung, § 8 of Social Code Book IV, SGB IV). In employment law, a Minijob is an ordinary employment relationship, whether you work for a business or a private household.
If your Minijob is the kind with an earnings limit, you count as a part-time employee under § 2(2) of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG). Part-time staff may not be treated worse than comparable full-time staff without an objective reason (§ 4(1) TzBfG). If the employer gives full-time staff on a five-day week 30 days instead of 20, Minijobbers are entitled to the same share: on 2 working days a week, 12 days instead of 8.
An employment contract cannot exclude leave: it may not depart from the BUrlG to the employee's disadvantage (§ 13(1) sentence 3 BUrlG). Not even a collective agreement can go below the statutory minimum of 24 days on a six-day week (§ 13(1) sentence 1 BUrlG).
How many days of leave on 1, 2 or 3 days a week?
The law sets at least 24 Werktage a year (§ 3 BUrlG). Werktage are Monday to Saturday, so German law counts the statutory minimum on a six-day week. For fewer working days, the figure is converted: 24 × working days per week ÷ 6. Days count, not hours: a three-hour shift is one working day, just like a six-hour one.
The result is always four weeks off. If you work 1 day a week, 4 days of leave give you four weeks off. The right-hand column applies if the employer gives full-time staff on a five-day week 30 days.
| Working days per week | Calculation | Statutory leave | With 30 days for full-time staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 (1 day every two weeks) | 24 × 0.5 ÷ 6 | 2 days | 3 days |
| 1 | 24 × 1 ÷ 6 | 4 days | 6 days |
| 1.5 | 24 × 1.5 ÷ 6 | 6 days | 9 days |
| 2 | 24 × 2 ÷ 6 | 8 days | 12 days |
| 2.5 | 24 × 2.5 ÷ 6 | 10 days | 15 days |
| 3 | 24 × 3 ÷ 6 | 12 days | 18 days |
| 4 | 24 × 4 ÷ 6 | 16 days | 24 days |
How is leave calculated when your working days vary?
If your days follow a fixed pattern, use the average over the pattern. 1 day one week and 2 days the next is 1.5 days a week, which gives 6 days of leave.
Without a fixed pattern, for example for a casual worker on call, the Federal Labour Court (BAG) calculates over the whole year: 24 × days with a duty to work ÷ 312 (BAG, 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 315/17). The 312 is 52 weeks of six Werktage each. Public holidays and sick days on which you would otherwise have worked count as days with a duty to work.
In the calculator, enter your shift days divided by the number of weeks under "Working days per week". If the Minijob lasts the whole year, that is your days in the year divided by 52; decimals are allowed, and apart from rounding this gives the same result as the annual formula. If the Minijob starts or ends during the year, divide your shift days by the weeks in which it exists; the calculator then works out for itself whether and how the leave is cut to twelfths under § 5 BUrlG. If your shifts are not fixed in advance, the calculator can only work from an estimate, such as the number of shifts you worked last year.
For the full year's leave, the calculator shows fractions as they come out; for partial leave, it rounds up from half a day (§ 5(2) BUrlG). A fraction of less than half a day never disappears: it must be given as time off for that part of a day, or paid out once the employment has ended (BAG, 26 January 1989, 8 AZR 730/87).
Is leave in a Minijob paid?
Yes. For your days of leave the employer pays holiday pay (Urlaubsentgelt). It is based on your average earnings in the 13 weeks before the leave starts, not counting overtime pay (§ 11(1) BUrlG). If your pay goes up permanently, the higher pay counts. Cuts caused by short-time work, lost working time or absences that were not your fault do not lower the average.
On a fixed monthly wage, your pay simply continues in the month you take leave. On an hourly wage with changing shifts, the 13-week average shows what a day of leave is worth. Holiday pay must be paid before the leave starts (§ 11(2) BUrlG). The calculator works out the days only, not the amount.
A holiday bonus (Urlaubsgeld) is something else: an extra payment the law does not require. You only have a right to it if something else provides for it, such as your employment contract, a collective agreement or a works agreement. If full-time staff get it, Minijobbers are in principle entitled to a pro rata share under § 4(1) TzBfG. As a foreseeable one-off payment, it counts towards your earnings, which in a Minijob may not exceed €603 a month on average in 2026 (§ 8(1) no. 1 and (1a) SGB IV).
What if the Minijob starts or ends during the year?
You first earn your full annual leave after six months of employment (§ 4 BUrlG). If the Minijob starts on 30 June at the latest, this six-month waiting period ends before the end of the year, and you get the full entitlement in your very first year: starting on 1 March on 2 days a week, that is 8 days.
If the Minijob starts on 1 July or later, you get partial leave for the first year: one twelfth of the annual leave for each full month (§ 5(1)(a) BUrlG), with fractions of half a day or more rounded up to a full day (§ 5(2) BUrlG). If you ask, this partial leave is carried over into the next year (§ 7(3) sentence 4 BUrlG).
If the Minijob ends, what you get depends on whether the waiting period is over and in which half of the year you leave (§ 5(1)(b) and (c) BUrlG). Leave you can no longer take must be paid out (§ 7(4) BUrlG). The page on annual leave when leaving a job shows how that is calculated.
Examples
Five Minijob cases in 2026, with the figures the calculator gives.
1 day a week, full year
A casual worker works every Saturday. 24 × 1 ÷ 6 = 4 days of leave.
Result: 4 days, of which 4 statutory
2 days a week, full year
A Minijobber works four hours every Tuesday and Thursday. The two days count, not the hours: 24 × 2 ÷ 6 = 8 days of leave.
Result: 8 days, of which 8 statutory
3 days a week, 30 days for full-time staff
Full-time staff at the company get 30 days on a five-day week. By law the Minijobber is entitled to 24 × 3 ÷ 6 = 12 days; pro rata under § 4(1) TzBfG, she gets 30 × 3 ÷ 5 = 18 days. In the calculator: "Leave in the contract" 30, "Contract basis" 5.
Result: 18 days, of which 12 statutory
Irregular shifts, 78 days a year
A casual worker on call expects 78 shift days in 2026. 78 ÷ 52 = 1.5 days a week, so 24 × 1.5 ÷ 6 = 6 days of leave. The annual formula 24 × 78 ÷ 312 gives the same.
Result: 6 days, of which 6 statutory
Starting on 1 September, 2 days a week
The waiting period only ends on 28 February 2027. For 2026 there is one twelfth per full month: 8 × 4 ÷ 12 = 2.67 days. Half a day or more is rounded up, so 3 days (§ 5(2) BUrlG).
Result: 3 days, of which 3 statutory
Legal basis
- § 1 BUrlG
Every employee is entitled to paid leave for rest and recovery in every calendar year.
- § 2 BUrlG
Employees within the meaning of the Act are blue-collar and white-collar workers and people employed for their vocational training. There is no exception for people in marginal employment.
- § 3 BUrlG
Leave is at least 24 Werktage a year. Werktage are all calendar days that are not Sundays or public holidays (subsection 2).
- § 4 BUrlG
The full leave entitlement is first earned once the employment has lasted six months.
- § 5 BUrlG
One twelfth of the annual leave for each full month of employment if the waiting period is not completed in the calendar year (a), if the employee leaves before completing it (b), or if the employee leaves in the first half of the year after completing it (c). Subsection 2: fractions of a day of leave that come to at least half a day are rounded up to full days.
- § 6 BUrlG
There is no entitlement to leave to the extent that a previous employer has already granted the employee leave for the current calendar year.
- § 7 BUrlG
Subsection 3: leave must be granted and taken in the current calendar year; it is carried over only for urgent reasons, and must then be taken in the first three months of the following year. Partial leave under § 5(1)(a) is carried over if the employee asks. Subsection 4: if leave can no longer be granted, in full or in part, because the employment has ended, it must be paid out.
- § 9 BUrlG
If an employee falls ill during leave, the days of incapacity for work proven by a doctor's certificate are not counted against the annual leave.
- § 11 BUrlG
Holiday pay is based on the average earnings the employee received in the last thirteen weeks before the leave starts, excluding extra pay for overtime. Permanent pay rises count; cuts in earnings caused by short-time work, lost working time or absence that was not the employee's fault are disregarded. Subsection 2: holiday pay must be paid before the leave starts.
- § 13 BUrlG
Subsection 1 sentence 1: collective agreements may depart from the provisions above, except §§ 1, 2 and 3(1). Sentence 3: otherwise, apart from § 7(2) sentence 2, the provisions of this Act may not be departed from to the employee's disadvantage.
- § 2 TzBfG
Subsection 2: an employee in marginal employment under § 8(1) no. 1 of Social Code Book IV also counts as a part-time employee.
- § 4 TzBfG
Subsection 1: part-time employees may not be treated worse than comparable full-time employees unless there is an objective reason. Pay or any other divisible benefit in money's worth must be granted to them at least in proportion to their working time compared with that of a comparable full-time employee.
- § 8 SGB IV
Subsection 1: employment is marginal if its pay does not regularly exceed the marginal earnings limit (no. 1), or if it is limited to at most three months or 70 working days in the calendar year (no. 2). Subsection 1a: the limit is the minimum wage × 130 ÷ 3, rounded up to full euros; in 2026 that is 13.90 × 130 ÷ 3 = 602.33, rounded up to €603.
- § 1 MiLoV5
The Fifth Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance sets the minimum wage at €13.90 gross per hour from 1 January 2026 and €14.60 gross per hour from 1 January 2027.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 19 March 2019, 9 AZR 315/17: Where working time is spread unevenly, leave is calculated over the period in which it evens out on average, if need be over the whole year as 24 days × days with a duty to work ÷ 312; public holidays and days of incapacity for work count as days with a duty to work (paras 24 to 27).
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 26 January 1989, 8 AZR 730/87: Fractions of a day of leave below half a day are not rounded down; they remain part of the entitlement.
- Federal Labour Court (BAG), 19 February 2019, 9 AZR 423/16: Statutory minimum leave lapses at the end of the calendar year or the carry-over period only if the employer first asked the employee to take it and warned clearly and in good time that it would lapse, and the employee still chose not to take it.
As of 14 October 2026
Frequently asked questions
No. Whether you earn €200 or €603 a month makes no difference to the number of days of leave: what counts is your working days. Your earnings only decide how much holiday pay you get for each day of leave (§ 11 BUrlG).
Not your statutory leave while the Minijob continues: it must be taken as time off. It is paid out only if it can no longer be taken because the employment has ended (§ 7(4) BUrlG). The page on leaving a job shows how much you are then owed.
Leave must be taken in the current calendar year; it is carried over only for urgent reasons, and then until the end of March (§ 7(3) BUrlG). But statutory leave can, as a rule, only lapse if your employer asked you in good time to take it and clearly warned you that it would lapse (BAG, 19 February 2019, 9 AZR 423/16). A Minijob is no different. The main annual leave page explains the exception for long illness.
Yes. Each employment has its own entitlement under § 1 BUrlG, calculated on the working days in that job. § 6 BUrlG only offsets leave that a previous employer granted in the same year, not leave from a job that runs at the same time. You request leave from each employer separately.
Yes. Employment limited to three months or 70 working days a year (§ 8(1) no. 2 SGB IV) is also covered by the BUrlG. If it ends before the six-month waiting period is over, you get one twelfth per full month (§ 5(1)(b) BUrlG): three months on 5 days a week gives 20 × 3 ÷ 12 = 5 days. Leave still open at the end is paid out (§ 7(4) BUrlG).
Days of incapacity for work that you prove with a doctor's certificate are not counted against your leave (§ 9 BUrlG), and this applies in a Minijob too. The main annual leave page explains how those days are then rescheduled.
How Worklayer calculates it
In Worklayer, the leave policy calculates leave entitlement automatically: pro rata from the start and leaving dates, pro rata for part-time work just as for a Minijob, with accrual over the year and carry-over into the next. Everyone can see their balance at any time; there are leave policy templates for 13 countries and public holidays for 204 countries.
More calculators
Note: this calculator gives a non-binding, automated calculation based on the statutory minimum rules of German law (as of 14 October 2026). It is not legal advice and does not replace an individual review of your case. Collective agreements, works agreements and employment contracts may contain different or more favourable rules, which are only taken into account here as far as you enter them. For a binding answer, please contact a lawyer specialising in employment law, your works council, or your trade union or employers' association. To the extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for the accuracy, completeness or currency of the results. What you enter is processed only in your browser and is neither stored nor transmitted.