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,” two hosts explain 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, two hosts work 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 two hosts — in the player or on your favorite platform.
The 4 key topics
Two hosts 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) 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 — published on Google, linked, and easy to check.
5.0 out of 5 · 28 reviews on Google
Reviews from January 2020 to March 2026
5 out of 5 stars
Reliable, thorough, and always punctual — that’s exactly how I picture professional office cleaning. 😊👍🏻
Translated from GermanRead the original reviews (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
5 out of 5 stars
We’re extremely satisfied with Ruiz Gebäudereinigung for our office on Sandtorkai. The cleaning is thorough and reliable. The team works professionally, and they’re flexible and punctual here. The service can only be described as excellent!
Translated from GermanRead the original reviews (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
5 out of 5 stars
We’re very satisfied with Ruiz Gebäudeservice. The team is reliable, works thoroughly, and always ensures a clean office. The collaboration runs smoothly.
It’s a great relief not to have to worry about cleanliness everything gets done reliably. If you’re looking for a professional cleaning service, you’ve come to exactly the right place. A clear recommendation!
Translated from GermanRead the original review (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
5 out of 5 stars
We’re very satisfied with the cleaning service. The team works reliably and thoroughly. The service is professional and flexible, so even short-notice adjustments can be made without any problems.
Translated from GermanRead the original reviews (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
5 out of 5 stars
For some time now, we’ve been relying on Ruiz Gebäudereinigung for the daily cleaning of our offices in HafenCity, which are about 890 m² in size. We’re super satisfied! The quality of the cleaning is top-notch, and the prices are fair.
Translated from GermanRead the original reviews (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
5 out of 5 stars
We (KREBS +KIEFER Ingenieure) are more than satisfied with the services of Ruiz Gebäudeservice Hamburg and can wholeheartedly recommend them.
Translated from GermanRead the original reviews (in German) on Google (opens in a new tab)
A selection from our Google reviews. We have matched each review shown here to a client assignment. As of October 4, 2026
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
Complete transcript of the audio track (24:36 min.), translated from German: a conversation between two hosts, divided into 9 chapters. The speaker labels (Voice 1 / Voice 2) were assigned automatically by vocal pitch; individual assignments may be off.
About this transcript: This episode is spoken in German. What follows is an English translation of the complete, unabridged spoken text of episode 2 of “Sauber kalkuliert,” the podcast of Ruiz Büroreinigung Hamburg, translated line by line. If in doubt, the German original prevails. The two hosts address their listeners informally (with the German “du”); wording and names are given as spoken, including the company name as it was said in the recording. Voice 1 is the lower voice, Voice 2 the higher one. Passages that cannot be made out are marked “(unintelligible)”. Statements that are factually outdated or wrong are corrected directly below them in a “Correction” box. Neither the episode nor this transcript is legal advice.
Voice 1 · 720. That’s not just some random statistic. That’s the exact number of desperate, angry and, yes, totally unsettled comments currently piling up online under a single article from the Minijob-Zentrale.
Voice 2 · Crazy, right? 720?
Voice 1 · Absolutely. 720 people who clean offices, stock shelves or sit at the checkout every day. And basically all of them have exactly the same question. Namely: am I being completely ripped off on my vacation entitlement right now?
Voice 2 · And the spoiler, unfortunately, in most cases is: yes, they are.
Voice 1 · Exactly. And that’s why today we want to take a really close look at it. Welcome to the official company podcast of Ruiz Gebäudeservice Hamburg. Because we’re not sitting here as some theoretical consultants in suits up in an ivory tower.
Voice 2 · Yeah, God forbid, no.
Voice 1 · We’re employers straight from hands-on practice. At Ruiz, we employ minijobbers in commercial cleaning ourselves, every day. And when you read through these people’s stories, you simply realize there’s hardly a topic where there’s more lying, more cheating or, out of sheer ignorance, more miscalculating.
Voice 2 · So it really is a structural problem in our industry. The ignorance is massive, and on both sides of the desk, to be fair about it. Yes, that’s true. But the worst part is that in the end, this lack of knowledge almost always ends up on the backs of the cleaners. And that is exactly our mission for this conversation today, during our shared lunch break. Right. We simply want to clear away this dense thicket of half-truths. Simple, extremely practical and, above all, completely without that incomprehensible legalese. That only serves to intimidate people anyway.
Voice 1 · That’s exactly the point. This intimidation really only works as long as the absolute basics are unclear. When I look through these comments, I get the feeling people are already miscalculating at the very first step. Before they’ve even talked to their boss. Where does the confusion actually begin?
Voice 2 · Well, the single biggest mistake almost everyone makes is trying to add up the hours they’ve worked.
Voice 1 · Ah, okay.
Voice 2 · People look at their work schedule and think, okay, I work ten hours a week. How much vacation do I get for ten hours? And that’s already completely the wrong approach.
Voice 1 · Really completely wrong?
Voice 2 · Yes, completely. Because the legislator doesn’t count in hours at all. If we look at the bare facts, there’s one ironclad golden rule. For your vacation entitlement, only the days on which you work count, not the hours.
Voice 1 · Ah, wait, let’s just pin that down for a second, because that’s a huge lever. So whether someone spends two hours mopping stairwells on their workday or five hours getting an entire open-plan office spotless, it makes no difference at all to the plain number of their vacation days at the end of the year.
Voice 2 · No difference at all. As far as the law is concerned, a workday is a workday. Period. When calculating your time off to recover, the legislator really only looks at how often per week you show up for work.
Voice 1 · Wow.
Voice 2 · Yes. How long each shift lasts only matters for how that vacation day gets paid, but not for the question of how often you get to stay home.
Voice 1 · You know what that immediately reminds me of? It’s exactly like a day pass for the swimming pool.
Voice 2 · Oh, good comparison.
Voice 1 · Yeah, or when you buy a ticket at the counter in the morning, the lifeguard couldn’t care less whether you only stay for one intense hour of swimming laps or whether you, I don’t know, lie on the lawn with the whole family for eight hours.
Voice 2 · Right, yeah.
Voice 1 · At the entrance you use exactly one ticket; one admission is one admission. And on the job, a workday is simply a workday.
Voice 2 · That’s a fantastic analogy, it really hits the nail on the head. One admission, one ticket. And if we now apply this swimming pool logic to employment law, then the official statutory formula suddenly makes perfect sense too.
Voice 1 · Okay, fire away.
Voice 2 · So the Federal Vacation Act always starts from the basic assumption of a six-day week. Anyone who works six days is legally entitled to at least 24 days of vacation. So the formula is: your actual workdays per week, multiplied by 24, and then divided by six.
Voice 1 · Phew, okay. Let’s break that down really concretely for everyone who’s maybe listening right now with a mop in their hand. Because our sources give us a wonderfully simple chart that you really only have to memorize once.
Voice 2 · Exactly.
Voice 1 · Let’s say someone cleans for us exactly one day a week. Say four hours every Friday.
Voice 2 · Then you simply calculate one day times 24 divided by six. That comes to exactly four vacation days a year.
Voice 1 · Um, but at first that sounds shockingly little, doesn’t it? Four days?
Voice 2 · Yes, a lot of people think that. But think back to your swimming pool analogy. If you take those four days, then in reality you have four Fridays off. For you, that means four full weeks in a row in which you don’t have to set a single foot in the company.
Voice 1 · Ah, okay, that’s the aha moment. So the four days stretch into four weeks of actual absence.
Voice 2 · Exactly.
Voice 1 · And if I work two days a week, so let’s say always Tuesday and Thursday?
Voice 2 · Then logically it doubles. Two days of work per week means eight vacation days a year according to the formula. And if you take them in one go, you again have four full weeks off, because you only take two days per week out of your vacation account.
Voice 1 · Amazing. And with three days a week, it’s twelve vacation days a year. That really isn’t rocket science.
Voice 2 · Absolutely not, no.
Voice 1 · If, as a minijobber, you just memorize this mini chart, meaning one day gets you four, two days get you eight, three days get you twelve vacation days, then you basically already have the perfect shield so you can’t be ripped off anymore.
Voice 2 · Right. And very important at this point: these vacation days are days on which you rest at home and get paid exactly the money you would normally have earned by working that day. So you’re trading time for rest, but not for a loss of income.
Voice 1 · Okay, but I have to jump in critically here.
Voice 2 · Go ahead.
Voice 1 · This whole calculation works great and is totally elegant if we assume an ideal world, meaning a world where someone has a rigidly fixed schedule. Every Tuesday, every Thursday. But we’re in the cleaning industry here. What about the countless people who work on call?
Voice 2 · Yes, the floaters.
Voice 1 · Exactly, the ones who clean completely irregularly, three days one week because a colleague is sick, then maybe not at all for two weeks, then one day again. They fall right through the cracks of this simple chart, don’t they? Because there’s no clear number of days per week.
Voice 2 · No, they don’t fall through the cracks at all. The legislator has provided a clear solution for these complex, irregular cases too. It just takes a bit more arithmetic.
Voice 1 · Okay.
Voice 2 · If someone works completely irregularly, we apply what’s called the annual formula. Instead of looking at a single week in isolation, we look at the entire calendar year.
Voice 1 · Got it.
Voice 2 · The calculation then goes: the statutory minimum vacation of 24 days, multiplied by the actual workdays this person has worked over the whole year, and all of that divided by 260.
Correction at : The conversation says “The calculation then goes: the statutory minimum vacation of 24 days, multiplied by the actual workdays this person has worked over the whole year, and all of that divided by 260”. The 24 working days belong to the six-day week and are divided by 312; the 260 belongs to the five-day week with 20 vacation days. The correct formula is therefore 24 × workdays per year ÷ 312 (Federal Labor Court, BAG, judgment of March 19, 2019 – 9 AZR 406/17), or equivalently 20 × workdays per year ÷ 260. What counts are the days on which you were required to work. Converting the entitlement to a yearly basis comes from case law; the statute itself only sets the 24 working days (§ 3(1) BUrlG). More on this: vacation calculator for minijobbers.
Voice 1 · Hold on, wait a second. Why exactly 260? Where does that number suddenly come from?
Voice 2 · Good question. The 260 stands for the theoretically possible workdays of a full-time employee over a whole year, assuming a five-day week. It’s basically the mathematical baseline for putting part-time and full-time work into a fair relationship.
Voice 1 · Ah, okay. Let’s make that tangible. Take someone who works extremely flexibly as a floater. At the end of the year we sit down, add up all the slips and schedules, and come to, let’s say, exactly 90 actual workdays that year.
Voice 2 · Good, then we take the 24 statutory vacation days and multiply that by these 90 real workdays. That comes to 2,160.
Voice 1 · Okay.
Voice 2 · And we then divide that number by the 260 annual workdays of the baseline. The result on the calculator is then 8.3. So, mathematically, this person is entitled to a good eight vacation days for that year.
Correction at : The conversation says “The result on the calculator is then 8.3. So, mathematically, this person is entitled to a good eight vacation days for that year”. In fact: with 90 workdays a year, the correct formula gives 24 × 90 ÷ 312 = 6.92 vacation days, so just under 7 – not a good 8. Our vacation calculator at büroreinigung-ruiz.de/en/minijob-vacation-entitlement/ uses the same formula.
Voice 1 · Okay, I’ll be completely honest, at some point I went crazy myself in the office recalculating this annual formula and doing all those fractions over and over.
Voice 2 · Yeah, a lot of people feel that way.
Voice 1 · That’s exactly why, back then at Ruiz Gebäudeservice, we told our people: build us a calculator that solves this in seconds, legally sound, without anyone having to despair at the kitchen table. And our listeners can now use exactly that one too, completely free of charge.
Voice 2 · Very cool.
Voice 1 · You just go to our website at büroreinigung-ruiz.de Urlaubsanspruch im Minijob. The tool is there. You really just type in your workdays, click Calculate, and you have your exact number in under 10 seconds. No stress, no math errors.
Voice 2 · And this tool is extremely valuable. Because, you know, only if you know your very exact, legally sound number do you even have the foundation to judge whether your employer is being honest with you or whether they’re putting you at a disadvantage right now.
Correction at : The conversation says “only if you know your very exact, legally sound number”. In fact: our vacation calculator at büroreinigung-ruiz.de/en/minijob-vacation-entitlement/ shows the statutory minimum vacation under § 3 BUrlG as a guide. If your employment contract or collective agreement grants more vacation, the higher figure applies on a prorated basis. Employees with a severe disability also receive additional vacation under § 208 SGB IX.
Voice 1 · Which brings me straight to the next big problem. Because if these calculations are actually so logical, and we even have tools for them, why do I constantly read these horror stories online?
Voice 2 · Yeah.
Voice 1 · When employers refuse to grant vacation, it’s often not down to a lack of math, but to deliberate deception. Let’s take apart the most toxic excuses from real life. That really is the heart of this. Because I genuinely get worked up when I read stuff like that. So what’s the absolute classic that people get told again and again?
Voice 2 · Oh, the absolute number one, (unintelligible), is the line: you’re only here on a minijob basis. Minijobbers have no legal vacation entitlement at all. That’s a privilege for permanent staff.
Voice 1 · A line that’s probably said thousands of times every day in Germany. What do we say to that?
Voice 2 · That it’s complete, legally untenable nonsense. It’s crystal clear in the Federal Vacation Act. In employment law there’s what’s called the principle of equal treatment. From an employment-law standpoint, a minijobber is nothing exotic at all. It’s simply regular part-time employment.
Voice 1 · Exactly.
Voice 2 · And the principle of equal treatment simply says that part-time workers must not be treated worse than full-time workers in their basic rights. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who has a minijob has exactly the same statutory entitlement to paid vacation. Any boss who claims otherwise is either lying in cold blood or simply doesn’t have their own business under control.
Correction at : The conversation says “And the principle of equal treatment simply says that part-time workers must not be treated worse than full-time workers in their basic rights”. In fact: the vacation entitlement in a minijob follows directly from the Federal Vacation Act, which applies to all employees (§§ 1, 3 BUrlG). The ban on treating part-time workers worse is set out in § 4(1) of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG) and covers all working conditions; minijobbers count as part-time employees under it (§ 2(2) TzBfG). More on this: vacation calculator for minijobbers.
Voice 1 · You really have to be clear about this. This principle of equal treatment is basically a protective wall put up by the state. If it didn’t exist, bad employers would immediately start chopping every full-time job into four minijobs, just to save on vacation days.
Voice 2 · Absolutely.
Voice 1 · So the law puts a big fat stop to this wage dumping. That brings me to myth number two, which I heard again just the other day. It’s almost even more insidious, because to a layperson it sounds so logical at first glance, and even generous.
Voice 2 · Oh, I can already guess.
Voice 1 · The boss says: listen, with us, vacation is already built right into your hourly wage. That’s why you get a bit more per hour with us than with the competition. Let me translate that. It means the employer pays me maybe 50 cents more per hour and is telling me in a roundabout way: here, have a few extra cents, buy your own vacation, thank you very much, and don’t bother me with vacation requests.
Voice 2 · That’s exactly the scam. And we have to say this here in no uncertain terms: that is an absolutely unlawful contract clause.
Voice 1 · Unlawful? Wow.
Voice 2 · Yes, even if you signed it like that in your contract as a minijobber, it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. It’s invalid.
Voice 1 · Okay, why exactly?
Voice 2 · Because the legislator says vacation has a very specific, non-negotiable purpose, namely the employee’s rest and recovery. By law, vacation necessarily means two things at the same time. You physically have time off, and you’re financially covered during that time. Both together.
Voice 1 · So the strict separation of regular wages and vacation money is basically a kind of psychological protective mechanism from the state?
Voice 2 · Yes, you could see it that way.
Voice 1 · Because, if we’re honest, a lot of people in minijobs need the money extremely urgently. They’re happy to take the extra 50 cents an hour today to pay the electricity bill. But eight months later they’re physically completely worn out, really ought to take a week off, but can’t afford it, because they’d earn zero euros in that week off. So here the state protects people from exploiting themselves out of financial need.
Voice 2 · Exactly. The pay must not be handed out in advance, bit by bit, because then exactly what you just described happens. Out of financial hardship, people stop taking vacation altogether. The purpose of rest, meaning protecting your health, is completely torpedoed. That’s why the law says: no, vacation has to be taken as time off and paid exactly then.
Voice 1 · Makes total sense. Okay, the next trick from bad employers’ dusty old bag of tricks is about our math from earlier again. The cleaner wants a week off. And the office says: sure, of course you get vacation. But for a week, you of course have to have five vacation days deducted from your account.
Voice 2 · Oh yes.
Voice 1 · And that’s even though, under their contract, the person maybe only cleans on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Voice 2 · That’s an unbelievably brazen accounting trick to empty the employee’s vacation account artificially and at record speed. Let’s remember our swimming pool analogy from earlier. And the days rule.
Voice 1 · Exactly, one day is one ticket.
Voice 2 · Right. Only the days on which you would actually have had to work as usual may ever be deducted from your vacation account. If under your contract you only clean on Tuesday and Thursday anyway, and you want to fly to Mallorca for a whole week, then on your vacation request you only enter vacation for the Tuesday and the Thursday.
Voice 1 · Aha.
Voice 2 · So for a completely free week, you use exactly two vacation days, not five.
Voice 1 · So in this scenario the employer is trying to siphon days off the employee’s account on which the worker would have been lying on the couch anyway. That’s effectively theft of recovery time. Unbelievable.
Voice 2 · Yes, it is.
Voice 1 · But what about the summer, actually? Lots of small offices or practices often close for weeks in August. I often hear from our people that at job interviews with other companies they’re told, um, well, we have a three-week company shutdown in August. That uses up your entire annual vacation. So there’s no point even asking during the rest of the year.
Voice 2 · Yes, that’s myth number four.
Voice 1 · So the boss flies off to the Caribbean, shuts up shop, and as a cleaner my entire time off is decided by someone else?
Voice 2 · No, here too case law draws very clear lines to protect the employee. An employer may order a company shutdown for organizational reasons. Yes, that’s their right.
Voice 1 · Okay.
Voice 2 · But they may never, and this is the decisive point, they may not plan out their workforce’s entire annual vacation. German labor courts are very clear here: part of the vacation must always remain freely chosen by the employee. In legal practice, it’s generally assumed that at most about three-fifths of the annual vacation may be tied up by company shutdowns.
Voice 1 · Ah, interesting.
Voice 2 · The rest belongs to you. And that’s extremely important for employees’ autonomy. Just think of parents who have to plan their vacation around their kids’ school holidays.
Voice 1 · That’s an enormously important point for being able to plan ahead. Good, and now there’s one more scenario, my absolute favorite, because it’s so outrageous: public holidays.
Voice 2 · Oh dear.
Voice 1 · The employer calls and says: listen, next Thursday is Ascension Day, the office is closed, so you can’t come in to clean. But don’t worry, you’ll still get paid. You’ll just come in on Friday and make up your four hours.
Voice 2 · That’s an absolute no-go. Because in this scenario, it’s not the vacation law that applies anymore, but a different, very powerful law: the Continued Remuneration Act. And that expressly prohibits exactly this kind of making up hours.
Correction at : The conversation says “And that expressly prohibits exactly this kind of making up hours”. In fact: the Continued Remuneration Act (EntgFG) contains no express ban on making up hours. The outcome is still right: § 2(1) EntgFG requires the public holiday to be paid in full, § 12 EntgFG prohibits deviations to your disadvantage, and you are not obliged to work unpaid hours in advance or make them up afterward (Federal Labor Court, BAG, judgment of August 14, 2002 – 5 AZR 417/01).
Voice 1 · What exactly is the rule there?
Voice 2 · The rule is simple. If your regular cleaning day falls on a statutory public holiday, you have that day off. And you get paid for that day exactly as if you’d worked your hours as normal. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Voice 1 · Hold on, quick stop sign for everyone who doesn’t know the Continued Remuneration Act in detail. Basically, all that means is the state guarantees you that a red-letter day on the calendar won’t tear a hole in your wallet. Right?
Voice 2 · Correct.
Voice 1 · Wait a minute, but if the employer now demands that I make up the hours on Friday, then he’s effectively using the public holiday the state gives us as a punishment for me. He’s stealing four hours of my free time on Friday to subsidize the holiday on Thursday.
Voice 2 · That’s exactly the economic reality behind this demand. The employer is trying to simply shift the business risk of a public holiday onto the employee’s free time. There is absolutely zero legal obligation to make up these hours on another day, or even to work them in advance.
Voice 1 · Yeah, crazy.
Voice 2 · The public holiday is a paid day off that the state sets as a break for society as a whole. It’s not an unpaid loss that the employee has to pay for.
Voice 1 · You really have to let that sink in. A holiday is a holiday, and it gets paid.
Voice 1 · When you hear about all these mechanisms and tricks, you really wonder how this can happen so systematically in the industry. But how do we actually prevent it on our side, at Ruiz Gebäudeservice, so that we don’t fall into exactly these traps, mathematically or structurally? After all, we want to show that it can be solved properly and fairly.
Voice 2 · Well, the key there clearly lies in structuring the administration from day 1. At Ruiz, nobody starts working without a written employment contract being in place first. And in it, the vacation entitlement isn’t hidden somewhere in the small print; it’s stated crystal clear in days.
Voice 1 · Right.
Voice 2 · That already solves the basic problem of not knowing. But the real challenge for employers, and that’s the reason so many dodge it, is paying correctly during vacation. Especially for cleaners, whose hours often vary a lot. How exactly do you handle that in payroll?
Voice 1 · There, we stick to the legally fairest method the law offers us. With us, vacation pay is calculated based on average earnings over the last 13 weeks before the vacation starts.
Correction at : The conversation says “There, we stick to the legally fairest method the law offers us”. In fact: the 13-week rule is not a method the law lets you choose; it is the statutory rule that determines vacation pay (§ 11(1), first sentence, BUrlG). An employment contract may not deviate from it to your disadvantage (§ 13(1), third sentence, BUrlG).
Voice 2 · Exactly, the 13-week rule.
Voice 1 · Let me quickly explain why these 13 weeks are such a brilliant mechanism. Imagine you filled in for a sick colleague. Last month you put in a good amount of overtime and did extra shifts. Because of that, you naturally adjusted your standard of living upward a bit for that period.
Voice 2 · Makes sense, yes.
Voice 1 · If you now go on vacation the following month, it would be extremely unfair if we suddenly knocked you back down to your absolute minimum pay. The law says very clearly: your recovery must not be a financial step backward. That’s why we take the last 13 weeks, exactly one quarter, and work out your average from them. So your vacation money reflects your real, most recent performance.
Correction at : The conversation says “That’s why we take the last 13 weeks, exactly one quarter, and work out your average from them. So your vacation money reflects your real, most recent performance”. In fact: under § 11(1), first sentence, BUrlG, the extra earnings paid for overtime do not count toward the 13-week average. Extra shifts beyond the agreed working hours therefore generally do not increase the statutory vacation pay; what is meant here is vacation pay (Urlaubsentgelt), not an additional vacation bonus (Urlaubsgeld).
Voice 2 · And that’s exactly what a lot of employers shy away from, because it’s more work administratively. You have to redo this 13-week calculation every time someone starts a vacation. That requires clean software and good bookkeeping. But it’s simply the only way that really protects the employee.
Voice 1 · Exactly. And we’ve firmly anchored one more point that unfortunately gets swept under the rug far too often. The topic of severe disability.
Voice 2 · Oh yes, a really important topic.
Voice 1 · Minijobbers who have a degree of disability, the so-called GdB, of 50 or more get a prorated five days of additional vacation a year with us, exactly as Book Nine of the Social Code clearly provides.
Voice 2 · That’s great!
Voice 1 · That’s not a nice bonus from us, that’s their hard-won right. And with us it gets entered into the system immediately, no discussion.
Voice 2 · That’s really an excellent example of applied, fair employment law. We also have to look at the current economic framework. It’s the year 2026. That means we’re talking about a statutory minimum wage of 13.90 euros an hour. At the same time, the earnings limit for a minijob is 603 euros a month.
Voice 1 · Those are the absolute, immovable guardrails for fair work in this country. Anyone who goes below that, who cheats on vacation pay or makes people make up public holidays, isn’t just cheating their employees. They’re also gaining an illegal competitive advantage over honest companies.
Correction at : The conversation says “Those are the absolute, immovable guardrails for fair work in this country”. In fact: the figures for 2026 are correct, but the wage floor in commercial cleaning is higher. The industry minimum wage for wage group 1 of €15.00 an hour applies here (wage agreement between BIV and IG BAU of November 15, 2024; 10th Building Cleaning Working Conditions Ordinance, 10. GebäudeArbbV, BGBl. 2025 I No. 22); the €13.90 is the general statutory minimum wage, to which the minijob earnings limit of €603 is linked. More on this: Guide: collectively agreed wages in commercial cleaning 2026.
Voice 2 · Absolutely.
Voice 1 · At Ruiz, we want to show very clearly that you can run a profitable, successful cleaning company, deliver reliable quality, and still treat your people absolutely fairly and by the letter of the law. The two aren’t mutually exclusive at all.
Voice 2 · On the contrary, it keeps good employees in a market where good people are extremely hard to find.
Voice 1 · Exactly.
Voice 2 · And if we now sum up all these legal and mathematical details, we end up with a very simple but powerful insight. Knowledge protects against exploitation. If you know your rights, nobody can pull the wool over your eyes.
Voice 1 · That’s exactly right. And so that you, who are maybe listening to us right now while cleaning, on the train or on the sofa, don’t just tick this off as an interesting conversation, we have a concrete three-point checklist for you to finish with.
Voice 2 · Very good.
Voice 1 · Three things you should ideally still take care of to protect yourself watertight. Point 1: Count your actual workdays per week, today. Forget the hours on your slip for a moment. Just count the individual days on which you set foot in your workplace.
Voice 2 · Right. Point 2: Work out your very own vacation entitlement. As we said, you don’t need to set up any wild equations for that. Just use our calculator at büroreinigung-ruiz.de slash Urlaubsanspruch minus im Minijob.
Voice 1 · And point 3.
Voice 2 · Grab your employment contract.
Voice 1 · Take it out of the folder, dust it off and read it through calmly.
Voice 2 · Is there anything suspicious in it anywhere?
Voice 1 · A sentence like, um, vacation is covered by the hourly wage?
Voice 2 · If so, then you now know with absolute certainty that it’s illegal and that you should talk to your boss soon.
Voice 1 · Absolutely.
Voice 2 · And exactly that brings me to one final thought that I’d simply like to leave hanging in the air today. At the very beginning, we talked about these 720 desperate comments.
Voice 1 · Yes.
Voice 2 · Just imagine what would happen in the entire German cleaning industry if starting tomorrow, really starting tomorrow morning at eight, every single minijobber in all of Germany demanded exactly the vacation and the rights they’re legally entitled to. Would this system of black sheep, which for years has relied primarily on employees’ ignorance and fear, simply collapse? Think about it.
Voice 1 · That’s a damn strong question to end on. A question that quite a few employers out there might want to ask themselves too. Thank you for this really fantastic and in-depth breakdown of all the rules.
Voice 2 · My pleasure, it was fun.
Voice 1 · And thank you for listening. Finish your lunch break in peace. Go through your paperwork and take care of yourself. Until next time.
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.
