Podcast · Sauber kalkuliert · Episode 2
A minijob (Minijob, a German marginal-employment job) comes with paid vacation too — no exceptions. In episode 2 of our German-language podcast “Sauber kalkuliert,” Jonathan Ruiz explains how to calculate your paid vacation entitlement (Urlaubsanspruch) with a single formula, what the rules are when your shifts are irregular, and which five myths cost cleaners vacation days every year. Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg employs minijobbers itself, so we speak as an employer with hands-on experience. This episode is in German; the full transcript, translated into English, is below.
The episode
How many vacation days is a cleaner in a minijob really entitled to? Why does the entitlement depend on the days you work rather than the hours? And which claims you hear on the job are simply wrong — or even unlawful?
In episode 2 of our German-language podcast series Sauber kalkuliert, owner Jonathan Ruiz works through the statutory vacation entitlement step by step: the weekly formula under § 3 of the Federal Vacation Act (BUrlG), the annual formula for floaters and on-call workers, vacation pay under § 11 BUrlG, and additional vacation (Zusatzurlaub) under § 208 of Book IX of the German Social Code (SGB IX). This episode is for anyone who works in commercial cleaning and wants to check their own entitlement.
Listen
A 24-minute conversation (in German) between Jonathan Ruiz and our editorial team — in the player or on your favorite platform.
The 4 key topics
Jonathan Ruiz and our editorial team walk through the four points where the cleaning industry most often gets the math wrong.
The Federal Vacation Act assumes a 6-day week. If you work fewer days, you get a prorated share of the vacation — but it’s never cut just because the job is a minijob.
If your schedule changes from week to week, you skip the weekly formula and calculate on an annual basis. The entitlement stays the same — only the math is different.
Five claims that cost people in this industry vacation days every year. Four of them are wrong; one is an unlawful contract clause.
Vacation means you don’t work and still get paid. Exactly how much is set by § 11 BUrlG, based on your average earnings over the last 13 weeks.
Reality check
Here’s what the vacation entitlement looks like in practice — with the math and the legal provision you can point to.
You clean an office in downtown Hamburg on Tuesdays and Thursdays and want to take a full week off.
8 vacation days a year, 2 days for this week
Your entitlement: 2 × 24 ÷ 6 = 8 vacation days per year under § 3 BUrlG. Only the days you would actually have worked are deducted — so for a full week off, exactly two.
You took a week of vacation in July and are now checking your pay stub.
Vacation pay under § 11 BUrlG
You receive your average earnings over the last 13 weeks before your vacation, paid out before your time off begins. Example using the collectively agreed wage (Tariflohn) for wage group 1 (Lohngruppe 1): 3 hours × €15.00 = €45.00 per vacation day, or €360.00 a year for 8 vacation days.
You fill in wherever you’re needed and worked 90 days last year.
The annual formula, not the weekly one
A full-time employee’s 20 vacation days × 90 workdays ÷ 260 = 6.92 — rounded up, 7 vacation days. The 260 is the number of possible workdays for a full-time employee on a 5-day week. Our vacation calculator does the math for you.
You work 2 days a week and have a degree of disability (GdB) of 50.
2 additional vacation days, so 10 in total
§ 208 SGB IX grants 5 additional workdays of vacation per year, prorated if you work fewer than 5 days a week: 5 × 2 ÷ 5 = 2 additional days. People with a GdB of 30 to 49 who have been granted equal status with severely disabled persons (Gleichgestellte) are not entitled to this (§ 151(3) SGB IX).
The 5 biggest myths
As an employer, we hear these claims again and again. Four of them are wrong; one is an unlawful contract clause. Here’s what the law actually says.
Wrong. Under employment law, a minijob is regular part-time employment. § 3 BUrlG applies to all employees, and § 4 of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG) prohibits treating part-time staff worse than full-time staff without an objective reason. If a company gives its full-time staff more than the minimum — say, 30 days — the prorated entitlement in a minijob goes up accordingly.
Unlawful. A clause like this is void, even if you signed the contract. Vacation means you take time off and your pay continues. It can’t be settled in advance, bit by bit, through your hourly wage. Reputable employers list vacation pay separately and budget for it from the start.
Wrong. Only the days you would normally have worked can be deducted from your vacation balance. If you clean on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a week off uses exactly 2 vacation days — not 5. Over a full year, this accounting trick costs you more than half of your entitlement.
Wrong. An employer may order a company-wide shutdown for organizational reasons, but can’t use it to schedule your entire annual vacation. Part of it must stay yours to use as you choose; in employment-law practice, about three-fifths of the annual vacation is considered the upper limit for a shutdown.
Wrong. If one of your regular workdays falls on a public holiday, your employer keeps paying you. § 2 of the Continued Remuneration Act (EntgFG) expressly prohibits requiring you to work those hours in advance or make them up. You get the day off, and it’s paid.
Our approach
At Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg, nobody starts work without a written employment contract that states their vacation entitlement. We calculate vacation pay based on the average of the last 13 weeks and pay it out before their vacation starts. Employees with a severe disability get their prorated additional vacation automatically — they don’t have to ask for it.
We’ve been owner-managed since 2019, employ more than 20 permanent staff from 11 countries, and work without subcontractors. Since our founding, exactly one cleaner has left the team. The reason is simple: when people are paid correctly and can take their vacation and recharge, they stay — and they work more carefully. We have no advertised openings right now, but we welcome open applications at any time and reply within 24 hours.
If you hire cleaning companies yourself, Episode 3: What office cleaning costs in Hamburg explains how vacation, collectively agreed wages, and cover for absences are built into an honest hourly rate. For a non-binding quote, call our team at +49 40 54 814 832.
What clients say
Genuine reviews from Hamburg businesses — verified, linked, and easy to check.
Frequently asked questions
The key answers from episode 2 of “Sauber kalkuliert” — each with its legal basis.
Call us at +49 40 54 814 832 or email jobs@bueroreinigung-ruiz.de.
Yes. § 3 BUrlG applies to all employees, regardless of how much they work: 24 working days based on a 6-day week, or 4 weeks. If you work fewer days, your entitlement is prorated — workdays per week × 24 ÷ 6. With 2 workdays a week, that’s 8 vacation days a year. The number of hours per day makes no difference. You can see your number instantly in our vacation calculator.
In that case, the annual formula applies: a full-time employee’s vacation days × your actual workdays per year ÷ 260. Example for 90 days worked: 20 × 90 ÷ 260 = 6.92, rounded up to 7 vacation days. The 260 is the number of possible workdays for a full-time employee on a 5-day week. Our vacation calculator does this math for you.
No. A clause such as “Vacation is included in the hourly wage” is unlawful and therefore void — even if you signed the contract. Vacation means you take time off and your regular pay continues. The Federal Vacation Act makes no provision for settling vacation through a higher hourly wage.
What counts is your average earnings over the last 13 weeks before your vacation begins (§ 11 BUrlG). Permanent pay increases — for example, from a higher collectively agreed wage — are taken into account. Vacation pay is due before your vacation starts. Unused vacation may be paid out in cash only if you can no longer take it because your employment is ending (§ 7(4) BUrlG).
Yes. With a degree of disability of 50 or more, you are entitled to 5 additional workdays of vacation per year (§ 208 SGB IX), prorated if you work fewer than 5 days a week. With 2 workdays a week, that’s 2 additional days, for a total of 10 vacation days. People with a GdB of 30 to 49 who have been granted equal status are not entitled to this (§ 151(3) SGB IX).
No. If one of your regular workdays falls on a public holiday, your employer keeps paying you (§ 2 EntgFG). Your employer can’t require you to work those hours in advance or make them up. This applies to minijobbers just as it does to full-time employees.
Transcript in English
A complete English translation of the 24-minute conversation (in German) between Jonathan Ruiz and our editorial team — about a 6-minute read.
Editor’s note: The following is an English translation of the original German recording, lightly edited for readability. If in doubt, the German original prevails. The German transcript is based on the original audio of episode 2. Its content matches episode 2 of “Sauber kalkuliert,” the official company podcast of Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg. In chapter 5, we corrected a calculation mentioned in the conversation: the base of 260 goes with the 20 vacation days of a 5-day week, not the 24 working days of a 6-day week.
Jonathan Ruiz: Welcome to the official company podcast of Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg. Hundreds of comments are piling up under a single article from the Minijob-Zentrale (Germany’s central agency for minijobs) — worried, angry, confused. And almost all of them come down to the same question.
Editorial team: Which is: Am I being shortchanged on my vacation entitlement?
Jonathan Ruiz: Exactly. And in many cases, the honest answer is yes. These are people who clean offices every day and still can’t figure out at the end of the month what they’re actually entitled to.
Editorial team: And you’re not speaking as armchair consultants here.
Jonathan Ruiz: No, we’re an employer speaking from experience. We employ minijobbers in commercial cleaning ourselves. And there’s hardly a topic where the math goes wrong so often — sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes on purpose.
Editorial team: So where does the confusion actually start?
Jonathan Ruiz: When people try to add up the hours they’ve worked. Almost everyone looks at their schedule and thinks: I work 10 hours a week, so how much vacation do I get for 10 hours? That’s the wrong approach from the start.
“For your vacation entitlement, only the days you work count — not the hours.”
Jonathan Ruiz: The law doesn’t count in hours. There’s an ironclad rule: for your vacation entitlement, only the days you work count.
Editorial team: So whether someone spends two hours cleaning a small office on their workday or five hours getting an entire open-plan office spotless — it makes no difference to the number of vacation days at the end of the year?
Jonathan Ruiz: None at all. As far as the law is concerned, a workday is a workday. Period.
Editorial team: It’s like a day pass at the swimming pool. When you buy a ticket at the counter in the morning, the lifeguard doesn’t care whether you swim laps for an hour or lounge on the lawn for eight hours. You use exactly one ticket.
Jonathan Ruiz: Right. And on the job, a workday is simply a workday. The Federal Vacation Act is based on a 6-day week: if you work six days, you’re legally entitled to at least 24 working days of vacation. That gives you the formula — your actual workdays per week × 24 ÷ 6.
Jonathan Ruiz: Let’s say someone cleans exactly one day a week. Then the math is: 1 day × 24 ÷ 6 = 4 vacation days a year. If you take those four days, you get four full weeks off in a row without having to set foot at work.
“1 day gets you 4, 2 days get you 8, 3 days get you 12 vacation days — that’s your shield.”
Editorial team: And with three days a week, it’s 12 vacation days a year. That really isn’t rocket science.
Jonathan Ruiz: Not at all. And this is key: these are days when you rest at home and still get paid exactly what you would normally have earned that day.
Editorial team: What about the many people who work on call? The floaters whose shifts are completely irregular?
Jonathan Ruiz: There’s a clear solution for that, too: the annual formula. You take a full-time employee’s vacation days × your actual workdays over the whole year ÷ 260.
Editorial team: Why 260, exactly?
Jonathan Ruiz: The 260 is the theoretical number of workdays for a full-time employee on a 5-day week — the mathematical baseline. Here’s an example with 90 actual workdays in a year: 20 × 90 ÷ 260 = 6.92 — rounded up, 7 vacation days.
Editorial team: So what matters is that the base and the vacation days match.
Jonathan Ruiz: Exactly. A 5-day week with 260 possible workdays goes with 20 vacation days; a 6-day week goes with 24 working days. If you mix the two, you make your entitlement look better or worse than it really is.
Jonathan Ruiz: Because a lot of people find this math tricky, we built a calculator that does it in seconds. Just go to the vacation calculator on our website, enter your workdays, click the calculate button, and you’ll have your number in under 10 seconds.
Editorial team: And it’s free, with no sign-up.
Jonathan Ruiz: That’s right. Once you know your number, you can back it up when you talk to your employer.
Editorial team: Myth 1: Minijobbers aren’t entitled to vacation.
Jonathan Ruiz: That doesn’t hold up legally. Under employment law, a minijob is regular part-time employment. The principle of equal treatment is very simple: part-time staff may not be treated worse than full-time staff.
Editorial team: Myth 2: The boss says vacation is already built into the hourly wage.
Jonathan Ruiz: That’s an unlawful contract clause. Even if you signed it, it’s invalid. Vacation has one non-negotiable purpose: rest. The pay can’t be handed out in advance, bit by bit. Reputable employers list vacation pay separately and budget for it from the start.
“Vacation is included in the hourly wage — that’s unlawful. Period.”
Editorial team: Myth 3: A week off always takes 5 vacation days.
Jonathan Ruiz: That’s a brazen accounting trick. Only the days you were actually scheduled to work can ever be deducted from your vacation balance. If you only clean on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a week off uses exactly two vacation days — not five.
Editorial team: Myth 4: A company shutdown uses up all your annual vacation.
Jonathan Ruiz: An employer may order a company shutdown for organizational reasons — but can never use it to schedule your entire annual vacation. In employment-law practice, about three-fifths is considered the upper limit; the rest is yours to use as you choose.
Editorial team: Myth 5: Public holidays have to be made up.
Jonathan Ruiz: The Continued Remuneration Act expressly prohibits that. If your regular cleaning day falls on a public holiday, you have the day off and you get paid. There’s no obligation whatsoever to make up those hours.
Jonathan Ruiz: At our company, nobody starts work until there’s a written employment contract that clearly states their vacation entitlement. We calculate vacation pay based on average earnings over the last 13 weeks. Employees with a severe disability get their prorated additional vacation automatically.
Editorial team: So you want to show that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Jonathan Ruiz: You can run a cleaning company profitably and still treat your people fairly — in fact, that’s how you keep good employees. If you properly factor in the full collectively agreed wage, including the vacation entitlement, you can also justify your hourly rate transparently. Anything else is wage dumping at the workers’ expense.
Jonathan Ruiz: Point 1: Count your actual workdays per week — today. Point 2: Calculate your vacation entitlement with our vacation calculator. Point 3: Read your employment contract. If it says vacation is included in the hourly wage, you now know that clause is void.
Editorial team: Imagine what would happen if, starting tomorrow, every minijobber claimed exactly the vacation they’re entitled to.
Jonathan Ruiz: It would be a good day for the industry. Thanks for listening — enjoy the rest of your break, go through your paperwork, and take care.
Further reading
Calculators, guides, and the other episodes of “Sauber kalkuliert.”
Careers at Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg
20+ permanent employees from 11 countries, no subcontractors, hourly wages from €16.00, and up to €50 a month in tax-free non-cash benefits. Your vacation entitlement is written into your employment contract, and vacation pay is paid out before your time off starts. We have no advertised openings right now — send your open application to jobs@bueroreinigung-ruiz.de and we’ll reply within 24 hours.
Applications to jobs@bueroreinigung-ruiz.de · Reply within 24 hours · Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg, Carl-Petersen-Straße 92b, 20535 Hamburg · Mon–Sat, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
