All employees should have a written employment contract identifying major aspects of the employment relationship. The contract should also include items such as parties involved, gross salary and benefits, required work, vacation entitlement, start date, location of performance, and notice periods. Although employers and employees may create limited term contracts, employment contracts are assumed to be for an unlimited time period (unless otherwise specified). Probationary periods are permitted for up to 6 months. Probation times require a notice that at least 2 weeks must be granted to any employees to be terminated. Termination notices require a minimum of four weeks. (This is distinct from the requirement of notification for termination during probation period). The longer an employee has been with a company, the more advance notice of termination is required. With a minimum statutory requirement of 4 months, one month of required notification time shall be added as an employee completes the 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 15th years with the same employer. In Germany, the law distinguishes between Ordinary Termination (with notice) and Extraordinary Termination (without notice). For Ordinary Termination, expiration of the period of notification will conclude the employment relationship. With Extraordinary Termination, termination notifice immediately ends the employment contract. Extraordinary Termination usually occurs with instances of serious misconduct. Termination must occur within a two week period from the moment the notifying party becomes aware of the information critical to the termination. Extraordinary Termination is legally permissible when there is significant reason making it inappropriate to continue the employment contract until the end of the notice period. For fixed contracts, extraordinary termination will terminate the contract immediately dissolving the obligation to continue employment through the expiration stipulated in the contract. Seven months is the maximum period of termination notification required for any employee and is reserved for those who have completed 20 years of service. Any years of service for the same employer prior to the employee’s 25th birthday will not be taken into account when calculating the entitlement of termination notice. German law sets 48 hours as the normal work week with 8 hours per day. In certain cases of collective agreement however, the employee work week may be reduced to anywhere between 35 to 38.5 hours. Expecting or nursing mothers may not work more than 8 hours a day. Likewise, employees/trainees under the age of 18 may not work more than 8 hours a day. Excluding those under 18 and nursing/pregnant women, employees may have the work day extended up to 10 hours, provided that the average amount of hours per day remains at 8 for the following 6 months. http://www.foreignstaffing.com/about/international-labor-law/german-labor-laws/