Remote work in Germany: what employers need to know

There is no statutory right to work from home in Germany. A proposed law to create one did not pass, so whether an employee works remotely is a matter for agreement between them and the employer.

German practice distinguishes two forms. Telearbeit is a fixed home workstation, which brings the workplace safety rules of the Arbeitsstättenverordnung into play. Mobile work, mobiles Arbeiten, is the more flexible arrangement most companies use, where the person can work from home or elsewhere without a formally equipped workstation. Which one you agree changes the duties that follow.

Because so much is left to agreement, the remote-work terms are worth writing down clearly, either in the contract or a side agreement. A good one removes the common sources of dispute before they arise.

• Where the person may work and how often
• Core hours and how working time is recorded
• Who provides equipment and covers costs
• Data protection and security expectations
• Whether the arrangement can be changed or ended

Setting this out early is far easier than unpicking an informal arrangement later.

The working-time rules apply wherever the person works. The Arbeitszeitgesetz caps the working day, generally at eight hours with limited room to extend, requires rest breaks and an eleven-hour rest between shifts, and restricts Sunday work. A court ruling has also made recording working time an employer duty, so remote hours have to be logged, not left to trust.

Occupational health and safety duties follow the employee home too. For a formal Telearbeit workstation the employer has real obligations over the setup, while for mobile work the duties are lighter but not absent. Either way, the employer cannot simply forget about safety once the person leaves the office.

There is no blanket statutory rule forcing an employer to reimburse every home-working cost, so this is another point to settle by agreement. In practice employers usually provide the laptop and core equipment, and the agreement says what else is covered.

On the employee’s side, a home-office tax allowance, the Homeoffice-Pauschale, lets them claim a daily amount for working at home through their tax return. That is separate from anything the employer pays, but it is worth knowing when you set expectations on expenses.

Remote work gets more complex when the employee sits in a different country from the business. Social security has to stay in the correct country, which for intra-European arrangements is documented with an A1 certificate, and getting this wrong can mean contributions owed in two places.

There is also a permanent establishment risk: a person working from another country can, in some cases, create a taxable presence for the company there. Employing through a local entity, as an employer of record does, is one way to keep a cross-border remote hire clean.