American reacts to: Working in Germany VS Working in America
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- Опубліковано 3 бер 2024
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to Working in Germany VS Working in America
Original video: • Working in Germany for...
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If you get 1 US dollar for 93 euro cents, the euro is worth more. So €12.50 is $13.44
FX rates can be confusing ☺
I laughed so loud at that xD maths can be hard xD
Thanks for posting that, I just stopped the vid for it 😊
Btw.: Minimum wage in D was 12 Euro in 2023 (equals roughly 13 Dollars)
12,41 Euro in 2024 and a further 40-ish cents from 2025@@DalaiDrama-hp6oj. So with 12,50€ he barely makes the minimum wage.
American math education ;)
Bro is really struggling with the right Euro-Dollar conversion
That goes straight against the lifelong indoctrination about the US being best.
1 € is 1.07 $.
Maybe it is better comprehensible when writing in normal words... "You pay €1, you get $1,07" - or - "You pay $1, you get €0,93".
The Euro IS worth more than a dollar. You’d only have to pay 0,93€ to get 1$
exactly! was really confused here, why he was saying something like that
He forgot to mention that he acquires pension entitlements and also pays into unemployment insurance and long-term care insurance.
Yes and that payed vacation actually means that his payment for working hours is actually higher than just 12,50€
And the state hollydays are payed as well in many companies here in Germany.
Plus he does not need a car in most of Germany.
cheers
Wir sind auch echt in der selben Bubble 😂 🤘🏻❤️🔥
@@CavHDeu Passt ziemlich gut.😄
Yeah but let’s be real it’s not like anyone under the age of 40 is actually going to get much out of that because our generational contract is failing do to people having less children and the children paying into those funds later on in live because more of them want to go to Uni first.
@@user-cx6kt3ku2f that is sad but true, but no one has to go hungry, die of thirst or live on the streets in old age, unless they want it that way or are too proud to accept government aid. So even with a small pension you can still live well in Germany.
In addition, the state could also redeploy the 6 billion reserves of the health insurance companies or the reserves of the 'Sparkasse' savings by law, or finally make use of the right to reduce the pay of 'Beamte' in bad times (e.g. that of all elected politicians). cheers
That's the thing, it's not benefits, it's mandatory.
Don't you think for a second that companies here are any nice than in the US, we just have better labor laws and powerful unions.
Also keep in mind, if you get sick (certified by a doctor) during your planned vacation, this time doesn't count as vacation days and it would be transfered to the "unlimited" sick days.
Really? Is that always the case?
Yes @@Elektrotechniker
@@Elektrotechniker Yes, broke my foot on vacation last year and got 10 vacation days back. In total I was sick for 4 weeks and after that I could use the 10 vacation days again that I just got back.
@@Elektrotechniker yup. Injured my tendon, like a partial rupture and i had vacation days planned but i got those days back
he should have at least 20 days paid vacation, so 4 weeks, not only 3 weeks....
Do u know that every country works on the assumption that u have 5 days of work in a week? ^^
Yeah, that sounds straight up illegal.
As for the 13 days, they only count as leave if you actually had to work there, so bad luck if it's on a weekend.
According to the "Bundesurlaubsgesetz" minimum vacation time is 4 weeks.
So with a 5-day work week it's 20 days, with a 6-day work week you have to get 24 days.
@@BR618
German law assumes you work 6 days and by law mandates that you have 24 vacation days.
If you work 5 days (like everyone), it's 20 mandatory vacation days, and thus 4 weeks.
@@BR618you haven't watched the video it seems.
Minimum wage in Germany (2024) is 12,41€.
That would equal a 13.48$ national wide minimum wage in america at 0.92$ = 1€. In the USA it currently ranges from 7.25$ in states like Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, ..., all the way up to 14$ in Illinois, 16$ in california and 17$ in Washington dc 😊
@@flashed1439 However, not to forget that the worker in Germany entitles him to health, pension and unemployment insurance with his minimum wage and that the difference between a purchase for USD 10.90 (including taxes) at Aldi USA and a purchase for EUR 10.00 at Aldi Germany would certainly scare Americans.
wrong, minijob is 12,41€j regular job is 13,60€
@@MrCyder Nope. 12.41€ is the number. Remember: Gesetzlicher Mindestlohn, not Branchenspezifischer Mindestlohn.
but that's before taxes. maybe the guy in the video was talking after taxes? which would make it pretty decent
To make things a little clearer:
- he messed something up with his paid vacation. You have 4 weeks by law but in a lot of jobs you have 6 weeks. i "only" work in a retail store and have the 6 weeks. In my case, there are also the 15 public holiday days from Bavaria (differs slightly from state to state) which adds :)
- If you get sick for longer, your employer pays your full salary for the first 6 weeks, after 6 weeks the health insurance company takes over. If you have children you get 67% of your last salary, if you are single only 60% from the health insurance.
Except if you're state official like me. Then you're paid 100% no matter how long you're sick.
Maybe he had the 3 weeks paid vacation for the 6 month, he was working
but the health insurance companies cover "just" 1.5 years after that you would get "Arbeitslosengeld"
True, by EU law every worker in the EU has at least four weeks of paid vacation.
@@DarkarThanBlackuntil they decide you aren’t fit for duty anymore and send you into early retirement
20 days payed vacation days are mandatory by law in Germany.. but 25-30 days are more common
Yes, and that is 4 weeks not 3 (work days count)
Wrong. It's 4 weeks with a 6-day work week, so 24 days in total (§3 Bundesurlaubsgesetzt BUrlG)
Weekends for any non-service job is usually free as well. So a minimum of 20 days PAID vacation means he gets at least four weeks of vacation. Plus the 10-13 days of public holidays depending on the Bundesland/state. Unfortunately some of those move around the weekdays due the calendar shift, so in some years some of these days may fall on a weekend which are then not compensated for.
@@DalaiDrama-hp6oj i said nothing different.
@@ini1107 I know, was just supplementing
I had a stroke, and I had 1½ years off! And then come back to work and they wanted to know when I would like to take my holidays for the last 1½ years..... 80 days!!
And €12.50 is the minimum wage, but will go up this year.
My "girl" (now 57 yo) was off work for 16 months due to long covid. Now she has a special reconvalescent program with only half hours of work, the difference is paid by social insurance. And everything that was neccesary to adapt her office to actual requireents was made by her institute. I'm off job, I've done my debts. 👴
then either it was a couple years ago, or the company was very nice. Normally, it says if your sick, you can't take the vacation days and so they will stay in your vacation account till you're healthy again. But since some people were accumulating years and years of vacation days when beeing sick for a long time, there was a court ruling sometime back, where they decided, that you can't just collect vacation days, if you are sick for several years. After the end of the year the vacation was for, you have only 15 months till they can delete those days from your vaccation account. Like, all days that would be left from the year 2022 can be deleted after March 2024, even if you were still sick and wouldn't even be able to take any vacation days. All days left from 2023 can be deleted after March 2025. (HR here, so I had to learn all that stuff). Only if your contract or the Tarifvertrag says you can take the holiday with you for a longer period than those 15 months when being sick, then they can't delete the days after those 15 months...
@@Mimms-1701D You can narrow it down to “a few years ago” since the diagnosis was “Long Covid” or “Post-Covid syndrome”. But specifically: She is working again since February 5, 2024. And her institute has never laid off staff BECAUSE of illness since it was founded in 2007. In addition, your vacation entitlement does not expire even during the duration of your illness. The employer is a postgraduate scientific institution; in a manufacturing or trading company this would certainly have been handled differently. There are also some differences between Germany and Austria when it comes to legal aspects.
@@seifenraspel2382 my answer was meant for martynevans. And it was regarding the rules in germany. I'm actually HR, so I do know what i was talking about. Of course a company can let vacation days be in your account over the mentioned 15 months after the end of the calendar year. Either if they are just nice or if it's in the work contract or the Tarifvertrag. But there is a court ruling, that a company can cut the vacation days after more then 15months of absence from work because of sickness. I don't know if you can speak german, but if you can, you can just google it. It's pretty easy to find that information. And as i said: A company can always be nicer then the law or a court ruling if it's about something that benefits an employee. But if there is nothing said about that topic in the work contract or Tarifvertrag and they do cut down the vacation days after those 15 months and there will be no chance in court to get those cut down days back.
@@seifenraspel2382 huh, i just commented, but the comment is not here? So, again: My comment was meant as answer to martynevans and i was talking about the german rules. I am from HR, so I had to learn all that stuff and keep up to date. Of course a company can be nicer, or it can be stated in the work contract or the "Tarifvertrag", that they have to let the vacation days be in your account for longer then those 15 months after the end of the year, if you're sick for a long time. But that ruling does exist. And if there is nothing mentioned in the work contract or the "Tarifvertrag" a company can really cut down the vacation days after those 15 months and you will have no chance in front of a court if you want to have them back. If you can speak german, you can actually google the 15months thingy. It's really not that hard to find. :-)
In Germany, an employer has the duty by law to take care of their employees and only assign them tasks that do not endanger their health. Manual labor under extreme temperatures is considered a health risk that needs to be avoided. If you faint on the job, and someone finds out that your employer made you do heavy lifting in a 90°F warehouse, that's grounds for a lawsuit.
Ryan , you are not right.
0,93 € = 1$ ,so 1€ is 1,075 $ .12,50€ =13,44$
I hope you agree
Idk how you can disagree with math...
its not a matter of agree or disagree lol
thats why the dude in the video said his education wasn`t accepted here. They can`t even do basic math 🤣
@@CJO-no1 keep in mind that it's from the US perspective, where maths is more an opinion rather than a science 🤣
@@lbergen001 💀
Watching americans react to germany -the work-life-balance, the culture, the people- had me appreciate Germany sooo much more!
Hey dude, thanks for the reaction! 😄 As I'm sure you'll find out from your comment section I got some of the details in my video incorrect, but my overall thoughts on the experience are still the same. Either way, nice video keep it up! 😁
For a german, this is actually a pretty shitty job offer, both on payment and holidays.
The wage is as the absolut minimal wage allowed by law and if 3 weeks holidays for him mean 20 days, its also the minimal allowance by law. Most jobs in Germany offer something between 25-30 days of fully paid holidays.
If he has experience in Tech, he should easily find a MUCH better paid job with around 25€/hour.
The difference in Germany to the USA is that the low end is higher then in the US and the top end is lower in Germany. And you can have a halfway decent life at the lower end in Germany instead of simple survival like in the states.
In Europe, most people work to live, while in the states most people live to work.
Yeah, not to forget all the expenses that add up for the cost of living in the US, comparing that, cost of living in Germany is a lot lower in comparison.
And a lot of things Americans consider being "benefits" with their job are legally mandated here in Germany, like vacation, healthcare, or work hours. While you will quite frequently find people in the US working at least 50 or 60 hours in the US, especially in lower wage jobs, common in Germany are up to 40 hours (sometimes less, rarely more), also because work hours in Germany are restricted by law (under normal circumstances not more than 10 hours a day for a certain number of days before you have a day of, etc. With the intention to prevent health effects from very high work hours. The idea being a healthy worker is overall more productive than a tired and worn out worker doing more hours. Also. It helps to increase employment of course as you need more workers to cover the same amount of hours.
I already mentioned in another video that €2500 after taxes earned in Germany is more than €4500 after taxes earned in USA when you take into consideration that with the German pay you get free healthcare and education, and that your rent isn't in the thousands of dollars per month, the quality of groceries is quite higher and you get at least 20 vacation days by law.
2500€ after tax is a lot from what I see around me 🙈
When you have 30k brutto (before tax) it is also a bit more. Because the company also paying some social security parts directly. Its not visible on your payroll.
It is about 20%+.
That would bebonbthe payroll in the US.
@@LETMino85yeah, that really is already a rather high paid job here and way above the average.
@@alexanderkupke920i don't like to disappoint you, but the average wage in Germany is some 4.000€
Around 13:00 minutes: I work at a fire station, and our boss is forced by law to give us mineral water and fruit while working.
He is wrong about his own holiday. He has 20 days and he counts the weekends, then it is three weeks. But only the five working days are counting, 4 x 5, so he has 4 weeks.
I have a fridge like that for over 14 years now. They are not that rare in germany.
And most of them are not US brands, but from South Korea. (Samsung, LG)
@@seifenraspel2382 same brands as for the US market
Ryan for the second video in a row not reading the currency conversion rate chart correctly....
It's the other way around: 12€ is roughly $13 right now.
A few more insights:
He has 4 weeks of paid vacation, which is minimum in Germany. It's clarified in the video's comments, he just got it wrong. 6 weeks is pretty standard I would say, at least for jobs with average salary and above.
Also 12€ (since 2024 12.41€) is minimum wage in Germany. He says himself it's unskilled manual labor work in a warehouse with no prior experience, are you sure he would be paid significantly more than minimum wage for this kind of work in the US?
The job market for skilled workers is still pretty good in my experience, especially with prior experience. 70 rejections sounds crazy, but this is most likely due to him not being German and maybe his German skills are not great either. This is indeed something to keep in mind in Germany, most companies won't hire you unless you actually speak German on a certain level.
I think for the average citizen the salary disparity between the US and Germany isn't that big of a deal, ~$54k in Germany vs $60k in the US. You get less and pay more taxes but you get more for your taxes (especially social security) and depending on the location the living expenses are lower. A significant difference is in the higher paying jobs. According to some statistics I found a gross salary of ~$86,000 a year already puts you in the top 5% in Germany whereas the top 5% in the USA is at ~ $340,000 which is almost unheard of as a salary in Germany. The top 1% earners only make ~$160,000 in Germany.
I think this is the most significant difference between the US and Germany in terms of pay. If you have a high paying job in Germany the potential pay in the US for the same job is significantly higher, even if you consider factors like ridiculous rents in the areas where you get these salaries (hey silicon valley) and the lack of social security/need for saving up for bad times yourself.
Exactly! He said he could not work in his field which is an educational one, because of "no German language skills". So... for sure... how could one to educational stuff without being able to talk to the "clients", pupils or students? And for an unskilled job I guess the minimum wages are normal.
5 weeks in standard, 6 weeks you must at least work fullfilled 25 Dienstjahre (years of service). So no, 6 weeks aren't standard. And of course you don't have to work in the same compary 25 years straigh, if you worked for 25 years that 6 weeks you get offed. OR have at least worked 13 years in the same company. But there is a Verjährungsfrist (Limitation period) were you have to consume all vaction days. In some company it's the end of the year, though mostly the limitation period is 2 years (like Austria). In Germany it is 3 years. So you can have more vacation-days then 5 weeks. In some jobs you can't consume all holidays at once or even have a vacation block like during Christmas/New years when understuffed which happens in Nursing, Police, Fire department and rescue. In some companys you are not allowed to take more than 2 or 3 weeks in one piece. In some companies some people take off up to three months (my uncle did that).
Haha, 70 rejections are not crazy. That's standard. Some even don't bother right back. Some job description are already taken (Internal job search) but have to write the job offer.
Job Market is - I think - great for those with expierence for at least 3-5 years or more. For those without expierence or not enough it's pretty rough to even get in a job interview. And if you long not employed it's a farce. Sometimes you write up 200 applications, may get back 100 anwsers because most of them don't even bother to write back; and from that 100 maybe 10 interviews. One of my friends are longer unemployed.. and that's just the reality. Some you even get a job for maybe 3 month, and then they kick you out because in the meantime they already found their new employee.
The other thing is that there is not a job that is 1-on-1 exactly the same. Or that study graduation isn't acknowledged. That happend even in Europa. Austria/Germany has other standards than Eastern Europe. Like some will need a Nostrifizierung (Nostrification) until he/she have all Nostrification qualifications to work as the same job as he/she used to be. And not only does that cost money, but time. So yes, it's common to work in the lowest job, then to climb up the letter. For example: An asian/east European doctor might not be allowed to work as a doctor in Austria. They have to work as nurse assistent in the meantime; but if they have the Nostrification they can work as a doctor again.
The payment is different - but not realy. US earn more money, but your salary doesn't come with taxes. So you have to play extra every taxes. So you see that your salary are high, but in the end of the month it's nearly the same. European countries like Germany or Austria don't get that high amout of salary, yet we already pay for annual pass (for public transport), health and so on. Yes, you can assure every other thing too like an extra health assurance, for your car or your appartment/house ect. Because in the end we know what we pay fore. And we don't have to pay 10k or more everytime for our health. Or have to pay an exorbitant amount to the doctor. Because everyone pays for taxes, everyone can - theoretically - earn something from it. Our health care isn't the best - and the things our health system pays for us get every year less and less. But still.. it's comprehensible. And no, the company doesn't pay the health care for you - you pay a part form it through taxes; depending what your wage it can be quite a lot ; that's why lower wages don't pay as much as higher wages.
To make it clear:
Middleclass is
28k - 56k per year for 1-Person
56k - 112k per year for family
Which means that a person get's more than that they are already in the upper income bracket. And yes, we do multiply with 14 and not 12 because we get 14 yearly salaries. 13th salary is for summer holidays; 14th is for Chrstimas/winter holidays. That's the fixpayment, of course there can be variable payment (profit of the company) or extra payment (Schwerarbeitzulage=Heavy worker allowance; Sunday and public holiday surcharge; and so on)
To understand that system better go to the YT channel "Type Ashton" in the YT video called "The Big Debate: American Capitalism vs German Socalism - Salary, Taxes and Social Contributes" she explains the difference with an example. I think you should watch that next @Ryan Wass
And in Austria it's one step better. All salaries are × 14 (1 extra for holiday and 1 extra for christmas).
And the same happens when you have retired.
@@HerzschreiberGo figure with what jobs you'd end up in the US with no english language skills as a foreigner. :D
@@Moonchild0stimmt nicht ganz. Ich bin seit 8,5 Jahren in meiner aktuellen Firma und habe 30 Tage Urlaub im Jahr. Und für jedes weiteres Jahrzehnt bekommen wir einen zusätzlichen Tag im Jahr frei. Also habe ich ab August 2025 31 Tage Urlaub und so weiter.... In meiner vorherigen Firma hatte ich auch 30 Tage Urlaub.
Context: Half of the cost for health insurance are paid from the employer, half from the employee.
"you need time to recover from sickness, so you get time"
Ryan: "that's craaaaaazy"
Nope. That's reality in civilized countries! 😁
Minimum standards are 4 paid vacation weeks, health care, unemployment insurance, payments towards retirement. Most companies offer more benefits, like extra payments for your retirement, more vacation days (I have 6 weeks).
You get 6 weeks fully paid sick days, if it takes you longer to recover, your healthcare kicks in an pays sth between 70 and 80% for up to 1 1/2 years.
You get paid maternity and parental leave and so on. Yes, we pay a lot of taxes, but we have a lot of benefits (like free education) and and insurances in case we can't work
I've been on sick leave for 9 months. After a quite short time period your employer doesn't have to pay your salary anymore but the insurence will pay instead. After a few months the pay gets cut to "Krankengeld" which is about 75% of your salary. Because the employer doesn't have to pay it's not that likely you'll loose your job over somehting like this.
The quite shirt time period is exaclty 6 weeks (a year). You get fully paid by your employer for 6 weeks of sick leave. After that, health insurance will cover 70% of your gross income (but maximum 90% of your net income)... and then there are many other special things to pay attention to... :)
And if you are so unlucky and get sick again in the same year (with a different illness), the process starts again regardless of prior sick days: 6 weeks of paid leave and then health insurance takes over. That's a safety net that is worth a lot if you're already struggling because of your bad health.
Because people can stay home when they are sick, there are actually fewer sick days used per workplace, because people do not come to work sick as in the United States, and therefore colleagues do not get sick and the work environment is better and more productive.
Paycheck Germany healthcare part is 50/50 employer/employee 14.6% shared, so each 7.3%
3 Weeks is too low, the legal minimum are 24 “Werktage” ( including Saturdays) or 20 work days, making 4 weeks of paid vacation minimum. In most companies, especially if they’re bound to a tariff contract with a labor union, you get 30 work days or 6 weeks of paid leave.
And if one dollar is 0,93€, 1 Euro is more than one dollar.
3 weeks of vacation are actually surprising me because the law says you have to get at least 20 work days off, which with 5 day weeks would be 4 weeks. And that's the minimum, I don't know many people who get that little time off, I am getting 6 weeks at my current job.
The minimum wage in the USA in 2021 was 15 US dollars (around 12.50 euros) and in Germany it was 12.41 euros. But Sean Huggins forgot to mention other benefits, pension contributions, unemployment insurance, long-term care insurance. He also has a statutory holiday entitlement of at least 20 days of holiday per year.
Ryan, you need to keep in mind that those temperatures feel VERY different in Germany. I'm from Greece and I would still have trouble with that kind of heat there. (for context, it would have to be 40+ C in Greece for me to be bothered)
oh and when talking about sick days und paid leave... if you get sick during your paid leave, you can sort of like swap one with another - because paid leave is considered to be recreational, and if you have to heal from something, then its not recreational time! so you won't lose paid leave.
About the heat thing:
In Germany we have special regulations for this. (At least when I was small) every school had a thermometer and when the temperature at 10am was above a set hight, the school had Hitzefrei (Meaning heat-free) and all students could go home. I heard they adjustes the temperature needed and it rarely happens nowadays.
But some workplaces have a similar system . After all: If all their worker collapse from the heat, they have no one left that can work.
I believe warehouses can heat up a lot, so inside it's way over the low 90s measured outside.
When I was in training to be a florist, we had a glasshouse for the gardeners. When it was hot outside (like the low 90s ) we were told not to go in there or if we have to, no longer than 5-10 minutes (for example if someone needed to water the plants, pick up a plant or such)
At an internship I was working in the glasshouse as well, working on the tomato plants and removing unwanted new growths and such. I was really surprised when my boss suddenly stood behind me. One of his workers had a heat stroke and to prevent more from getting one, he sent everyone home. Except for me. My contract said he had to keep me at work for 8 hours. So I was sitting in his office (with a ventilator) and reading/learning about botanic names until he could let me go home. (If I had worked for him, I would have been sent home as well)
Ps: In a warehouse, glasshouse or car, the temperature inside can rise really quickly to a damaging high. If they fear their workers might drop down like flys due to the heat, they rather sent them home early than having lots of workers be sick and missing for days
i dont rly get the heat thing tbh. meaning thats not what i experienced (especially if you talk about a "manual labour type of job"
once i worked in a factory during the summer and it was a really hot week (like 30-40 degrees celsius). So inside it had easily between 40-50 degrees with all the machines and so on. but nobody said anything about the possibility of going home.
so i am pretty sure that he was kind of lucky that the company he worked at, had such a special rule
@@justkrios203 maybe it's either a nice boss, or they had issues in the past. After all it's not a good look for them if workers regularly drop like flies.
My boss back then told me the temperature in the glasshouses could reach above 50C when it's 30 outside. Guess warehouses with the machines are pretty hot as well. Especially if they had a bad airing system. Sometimes it's a blessing to just throw open all windows to catch a breeze xD
(sorry if my wording might be a bit wrong/weird. It's past midnight and it's not my native language xD)
I assume that he got three weeks off because his work contract only lasts six month. In Germany six weeks paid vacation per year is the norm.
The job is not 9 hours a day, it is 4 days of 8.75 hours and one day of 5 hours, which is a total of 40 hours, which is pretty normal. Most jobs range between 35 and 40 hours a week.
8 hours work, 45 minute break i guess, so 8,75 hours total?!
@@lucabrust346 no, the break of 1h was marked separately. It really meant 8.75 h of work.
@@m.h.6470 ah I see, I missed it. thanks
It have to be 8,75h in total because it‘s not allowed to work constantly for more than 8,0h a day. Only sometimes with some strict rules it‘s allowed to work up to 10h per day.
@@AdmNickSea nope, the AVERAGE per workday over the last 6 months has to be 8 hours. Given, that he only works 5 hours on Fridays, it is permitted, that he works more than 8h but less than 10h.
My husband is a police official at the coast guard. He has had an accident on duty. For almost two years he was on medical leave with full salary. All his leave days (a little more than 8 weeks) were saved.
We did, with this much time, a 6 weeks holliday in the USA.😊
A friend of mine just today started his re-entry period to work (working only half a day and being guided to get himself back up to scratch) after about 4 months of sick leave after he had an accident at work.
Vacation in Germany (for a full time job) is minimum 24 work days. So, judging by his pay and his vacation days, the guy gets the absolute legal minimum his employer is required to give.
24 days - 6 days a week, 20 days - 5 days a week. He works from Monday to friday, so 5 days a week. So the minimum amount of vacation is 20 days.
Not all refrigerators in Germany are built into the kitchen cabinets. Standalone fridges are completely ordinary too.
Yeah, but not so many people have the "American style" double door, extra wide fridges. They're getting more and more common, sadly, because everything in the 21st century has to be supersized, fridges, cars, whatever...
If you are ill longer than 6 weeks (on the same illness) you are no longer payed by your employee but by the obligotary insurance. It is between 62 -68 % of your income for up to 18 month. If you can't work again, you become part of the welfaresystem
That's such a thing. Spokespeople for German companies told the press: "Mimimi, we can't find any employees."
And when you apply there, you get a “piss off”. So it doesn't seem to be that urgent.
I loved it especially since our current teacher shortage... now, I'm not a teacher, but I'm legally allowed to teach biology and chemistry at any level in school (with the mandatory didactics training). But guess what I couldn't find in the job portal MADE specifically for teaching positions? Open positions. Job offerings.
I would have taken a teaching position, not a problem. But the only open positions would have been a Waldorfschule (where I will never step a foot) and a private catholic school (where I'd step and burst into flames anyway, since I'm gay). But hey, I guess we're missing teachers everywhere!
Now I'm in industry...
Mandator by law are 20 days of paid vacation. Typical are 28-30 days of paid vacation depending on the region.
Number of national holidays are between 10-13 depending on the state. But holidays falling on a sunday (or Saturday) are not moved to monday/friday. Most national holidays are date depend, so its rare that all holidays fall on a weekday.
If you are sick, your employer has to pay you up to 6 weeks (counted per sickness). You need a doctors note for this. After 6 weeks the universal health care will pay you 66% of our after tax earnings for another 72 weeks.
What your employer pays you, is not what the employer pays total. Of your 100% income, you pay at least 20% social security (pension, health, care and unemployment) while your employer paying also 20%, so the true wage is like 120% of what you see on your income sheet. Then comes taxes progressivly with your income.
Shawn has a terrible jo (both pay and benefits) from a german perspective. Maybe even illegal, if its just 3 weeks of vacation.
is it 20 now? i always thought it was 24. And i just hope that with 3 weeks shawn ment 21 days.
@@Gabba_Gand4lf It always was 24 days for a 6 workday week and thus it's 20 for a 5 workday week.
As you don't work Saturday/Sunday on a traditional Monday to Friday Job, when counting vacation weeks, you don't count Saturday/Sunday.
People in Australia earn more working in construction than our lawyers. No wonder so many Aussies don't bother going to uni (university), unless they want to be a doctor or lawyer etc. Opting to take a course at T.A.F.E. (community college) or an apprenticeship. Our unis rely heavily on international students. There are so many trying to get in that the government recently put restrictions in place. They aren't free but they're cheaper than the American ones. Everyone gets a minimum of four weeks paid leave.
Greetings from Germany. All Americans I know who work here are surprised how much taxes they pay until they realize that they have a 1) health insurance that pays for almost everything, including their children. 2) That they aren't on the streets within two weeks when getting fired, but have 3 months notice "in advance" plus full payments when they get fired, on top are entitled to 60% of their income from government if they can't find a new job within those three months. 3) women, who are pregnant, have to stop working before giving birth by law to protect mom and child and get full financial income even after giving birth. Plus have the legal right to take 2 years of maternity leave with 60% of payment without losing their job. 4) our houses can deal with serious weather conditions and even after a hurricane, your garden may be destroyed but the house and you will be fine. 5) our tap water is good quality, cops are relaxed and you don't have school shootings or robberies or need a gun at home, because usually the cost of living are affordable to anyone here. We don't have trailerparks nor gated areas. Of course we have poor and rich areas, but the contrast is not that high 6) we have a lot of vacation compared to other countries and 7) our top nine technical universities cost a parent around 600 euro per semester fees. Our public education is almost for free. Hence your child nor you have to pay back a credit. Because education is available for anyone who's smart enough to pass the exams. Until Master level. Which means, when you finished your studies, your salary is 100% for you, not for paying bills to the credit banks.
Fun thing when you take payed leave and you get sick, you get your urlaubstage back.
It is called Hitzefrei, heat free. If the temerature reaches 30 degrees Celsius by eleven a m, most schools are closing as well.
Haha.... leider nicht immer 😅
Berufsschule ging auch bei fast 40°C.
Wir kriegen nie Hitzefrei in meiner Schule und ich dachte als Kind deshalb immer, dass Hitzefrei nur ein Märchen ist, weil ich in meinem ganzen Leben nicht ein einziges Mal Hitzefrei hatte 😂
in 15 jahren schule, bei mir nie vorgekommen 😅
In 13 Jahren Schule bei mir 3x vorgekommen. Dafür aber auch 2x Flutfrei bekommen obwohl unser einzugsbereich nicht betroffen war, konnten wir uns so als freiwillige Helfer zum sandschippen melden oder eigenen betroffenen verwandten und Bekannten helfen ihr hab und gut zu sichern. Das war ziemlich cool. Und so toll ist hitzefrei auch nicht, da staut dich nur der Stoff, den man nacharbeiten muss.
@@Nachteule84 ein paar lehrer waren manchmal so nett und haben mit uns draußen im schatten unterricht gemacht. das waren die besten unterrichtsstunden :D nacharbeiten hätte ich auch kein bock drauf..
Everyone who wants to work will find something. Even if you have no qualifications there are jobs waiting. Helpers are needed everywhere.
He does not know yet himself but He does NOT just get 3 weeks vacation, but 23 days ( fed minimum). But it means WORKDAYS (5 days/week). WE is free anyway and does not count there. Its a common counting mistake by US citizens. So his count comes down to 4,5 weeks (and that's entry lvl).
in Germany the law says 20 days minimum when you work 5 days a week, 24 days when you work 6 days a week. But only if you have worked at that company at least 6 months and 1 more day at the same year. If you change companys during the year it is really important that you let the company(s) you left write you a note how many vacation days you took and if they maybe paid out some of the non taken days. It yould be important for the vacation days during the whole year... (HR here :-) )
5:14 last year, the minimum wage in Germany was at €12,- per hour. on January 1, 2024, it was increased to EUR 12.41 gross per hour and will rise to EUR 12.82 gross per hour in a further step on January 1, 2025
Hey Ryan,
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy watching your reactions to German videos and content. It's really fascinating to see someone from America approach these things with an open mind and a willingness to learn, especially since, as Socrates once said, "I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing."
I think it's great that you're aware of the fact that Americans might not be as knowledgeable about things outside of their own country, and I appreciate your efforts to bridge that gap. Your videos are both entertaining and educational, and I always look forward to seeing what you'll react to next.
If you have a PO Box or some other address where fans can send you things, I'd love to send you a little something as a token of my appreciation. Thanks for all the great content!
Best regards,
Niclas
Ryan, if 1 USD equals 0,93 Euro, then 1 Euro equals 1,075 USD.
He would have gotten that right if the conversion rates were shown in imperial 🤓
@RyanWass Is it possible for you to watch for about 3 minutes without interrupting and then react? It's sometimes hard to follow the video with so many interruptions in quick succession😉😊
Actually I would suggest to watch the original video fir without interruptions to give the original creators their earned views. Then you don't have to bother of multiple interruptions and can focus on the comments.
You actually have at least 4 weeks holiday by law. Minimum is 20 days with 5 days a week. But most companies give you something between 24 and 30 days.
You have to be aware, that he got 3 weeks holidays in 6 months. Normally you get 28 to 30 working days as holidays. When you’re clever and combine the days with the bank holidays you get a lot of free time. (A continuous nightmare for the bosses 😂). Lots of companies are closed on so called “bridge days” when a bank holiday is on Tuesdays or Thursdays. In this case a lot of companies are closed on Mondays and Fridays mostly compensated by overtime hours.
I don’t know how it is in USA, but in Germany overtime is payed or can be used as compensation time when you want to leave earlier or collect hours for even complete days off.
My aunt got realy bad ill with cancer and she worked in 3 years half a year and still got paid Germany is awesome. Or better it should be so.
The minimum wage is currently 12,41 € in Germany. His wage is actually normal for someone who does work that needs no qualification. It's always just minimum wage or a little bit above that.
But I'm a little bit confused about the 3 weeks paid vacation. The law says 4 weeks are the minimum.
Everybody in the comments and the guy is wrong. He had 3 weeks paid vacation because he only worked 6 months. He probably would have had 6 weeks if he worked the full year.
As others pointed out 20 days (4 weeks) is the minimum but 28-30 days (6 weeks) is the standard.
You get that fridge in every electronic store. Mine is even bigger 😂
Yes you can have multiple months of sick days, if you have a serious illness or if it's a mental illness like a burn out for example.
In Germany you receive your payment from the employer during the first 6 weeks of sickness. This goes per sickness, so if you have 1 week for a cold and 6 weeks for a broken leg right after, the employer would need to pay 7 weeks, since it's 2 individual sicknesses and each has it's own 6 week period.
After those 6 weeks your healthcare starts paying you instead of the employer. You don't receive your full salary, it's 60% of your salary I think, but you will get money even if you are sick for half a year or maybe even longer.
If you have been sick for multiple months you also don't get back to working 100% right away. There is a period that is called "Wiedereingliederung". This period is a few weeks long and you will be continued to get paid by your health insurance during that time. But you will start to do like 10 hours in the first week 20 hours in the second and so on. Basically you gradually increase your working time until you get back to your old schedule.
I love your enthusiasm and interest in learning as much as you can.
But I think you really need a german person to watch these videos with, so they can immediately call out bullshit or incomplete information when it comes up.
I recently came across this channel and started binging chronologically. I'm maybe 50 videos in and there have been so many examples of either misinformation, bad research or simply overgeneralization of very local traditions.
Which usually doesnt bother me, that's the internet.
But seeing how much love and interest you show, i always flinch when i hear you reference something that's wrong ( at least in my opinion, to be fair ).
Or maybe I'm just being german, waggling my finger going "No, zis is technichally incorrect, be more precise!"
Huh, anwho... love the vids, keep it up 👍
After six weeks total being sick because of the same reason the employer doesn’t pay you. But you will get around 60% of your income from health care insurance
The employer never pays for your sick days, it's always paid by your health insurrance. But to make things simple your paycheck is the same as usual and your employer gets the money back from your insurrance. From day 1 of your sick leave.
After 6 weeks of uninterrupted sick leave your paycheck is reduced to 2/3rd of your normal pay (so called Krankengeld)
@@grimfistgaming7694 that is not right. Only smaller companys can get money back when an employee is sick. The Gesetzgeber thinks the bigger companys are rich enough to pay those 6 weeks by themselfs and as far as I know it's enough to have more then 30 employees that they think you are a big and rich enough company (HR here :-) )
@@grimfistgaming7694 False. The employer pays up to 6 weeks out of HIS pocket. (§3 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz (EntgFG))
I'm from Germany and this is how it went for me a few years ago. I had 3 OP's on my cervical vertebrae (neck joints). The 3 OP's were done over a space of 1 1/2 years with 13 stays in Hospital, ranging from 1 to 2 weeks at a time. Not only was I off work for 1 1/2 years but my job was waiting for me when I was done healing. The first 6 weeks are payed for by the employer, after that the health insurance steps in and I got 80% of my wage until I went back to work. Also because I was off sick I didn't take any holdays so I had a total of 69 days Holiday to take when I got back to work. I was at work for 1 week then SENT on holiday for 3 weeks back for 2 week and then SENT on holiday for another 3 weeks, that got rid of 30 days.
Just as of 12:09 - there is a law that you are not allowed to work in a too hot place. So if your company doesn't have air conditioning to keep the temps low, they must send you home (payed) or else they have to pay a fine which I think is really really high.
3:01 It's not impossible to get such refrigerators in Germany. They are just much less common as most Germans prefer to have a kitchen surface with identical front panels. It is VERY difficult to find standardized size surface panels for these split side-by-side door type refrigerators. Often they are also wider (quite a lot wider) than the standard widths of kitchen segments here. Meaning you either need custom made kitchen surfaces, or it has to be free-standing somewhere.
So the whole thing often costs quite a lot more than the standard fridge sizes here.
Edit 1: health insurance premiums as an employee are automatically deducted and transferred from your gross income. As an employee your premium is always 7.2% of your gross income with another 7.8% from your employer for a total of 15%. Mind you, the premium does NOT define the healthcare treatment you get. It simply means you get exactly the same quality healthcare no matter which healthcare insurance you choose. The only difference between statutory health care providers are certain goodies/voucher style bonuses if you lead a healthy life and provide regular checkup data. So they can send you to have your health checked long before something grows way out of hand. Preventative care is a LOT cheaper than actually fixing problems. After thosr premiums are paid virtually all medically necessary treatments cost you zilch, nada, niente, nothing. No deductible, no out-of-pocket, nothing.
The only copay is for prescription medical drugs at the pharmacy. With 5€ max per generic drug, or up to 10€ per brand name drug.
Oh, and 10€ per day of hospital stay covering your food costs, with a ceiling of 240€ per YEAR of constant hospital stay.
Dental reconstruction on a minimum level is included. Anything above and beyond minimum is however paid by you.
we do actually have a bigger one, they're easy to get but it's hell on earth if you're moving.
@@xrecixYepp, I get it, especially in one of the vast majority of only five floor apartment buildings that aren't mandated to have an elevator. Try getting one of those big monsters up four flights of stairs, through fairly narrow apartment doors... that's your day sorted out. 😁😂
@@RustyDust101 that's exactly how i live, and we just moved 6 months ago with such a monster 😂
I live in Austria, we get 5 weeks payed vacation and if you worked 25 years in the same company even get a 6th week
3 Weeks? They are 4 Weeks.
And no unlimited sick-days. 6 weeks pay the employer, then the insurance pays "Krankengeld".
Also the so called "krankgeld" only covers like 70% of your regular salary and also the insurance only pays an additional 72weeks (so roughly 1.5years in total right?) you also get payed like 90% for sick days of your kids, but only a limited amount (up to 30days per year in 2024 usually split between both parents)
Most important like here in Austria, Social Insurance rates just don’t mean health care. If you have a paycheck of 5,300.00 Euro, you pay 957.71 social insurance, but this includes. Insurance for health, accidents, unemployment(60% of last net income for 6 months), nursing insurance, Pensionsfonds, insolvency insurance), also you have 1,020.00 tax. Taxes (7 rates for everyone, like first 1,080.00 0%, 20% till 1.745,00, which means 20% for the amount between 1080 and 1745. And then 30, 40, 48, 50, 55 percent, last above 84k a month. Also 90 percent of workingclass have 14 payments a year, the additional two in May/June and November are only taxed with 6 percent, but also have the social insurance reduction. So 74,200.00 a year give you 48.176 net. Also with Kids you get tax reduction called Familien Bonus Plus.
Not to mention, 25 paid vacation, 12 week paid sickness, 8 weeks full, 4 weeks 50 percent, additional 8 weeks paid full if it happened at work. 10 days, nursing for your sick child. And you have the right to get time compensation for doctors visits, for the amount of one working week a year, when the appointment can only be done during the time you work normally. Of course every thing has good and bad sites, but socialism isn’t communism and def better than only life to work, and still have no money and be replaceable in seconds. In Austria you can get fired immediately for Really wrong behavior, for smaller ones you have to be warned one time. Big difference to dismissal, you can get a dismissal everyone, but often at least at 15. of a month, and then you have 1-6 month till your last day at work. Depends on year worked for the company and collective agreement. You can’t get dismissed at the if you are pregnant till 4 months after giving birth, or end of maternity leave.
3 weeks paid vacation is not much. 4 - 6 weeks a year is normal
I work in Austria as a foreigner in a pet food factory. All I needed was prooving my language skills and presenting my forklift operator's licence. The factory has a cantine-like kitchen where soup + main is like 5€ with 2 or 3 types each evers day. Safety ranks higher than production efficiency in the priority list, the pay is really decent, and the labour-/trade union we are part of gets involved in ministry level decision processes over our jobs and benefits. It was a totally new world for me, after ~10 shitty jobs
Here in Germany, you can be sick for 18 Months in a row, before you even have to worry about your job.
When i am right, 24 days payed leave is mandatory by law.
Some get more, the 24 days are the absolute minimum.
I have left 9 days from last year, and have to take them befoee end of march, 5 days are gone, 4 are planned for the last march week.
After that i have around 25 days to spend. 20 days are planned already.
Anyway, recreation is important!
I live in Germany and know a person who has been on continuous sick leave for about 10 years by now for health reasons while receiving a salary
Something else that some (not all) employers here in Germany offer are so-called Hansefit contracts, for example. This is a contract where you as the employer pay 20 euros a month and the employer also pays 20 euros.
This allows you to train in countless fitness centres, go swimming in indoor swimming pools, saunas and a number of wellness facilities throughout the country without having to pay anything else. The gyms just have to be registered with Hansefit, then you can go in for free.
For example, I live in northern Germany, so when I visit my parents in the south, I could go there on holiday and work out for free. That's a pretty cool thing. As I said, not every employer offers it (they have to provide a certain number of members for you to become a Hansefit partner), but if you do, it's really good. I just wanted to mention it in passing. I would be interested to know if there is something similar in the USA?
Greetings from the German North Sea coast
I presume Hansefit is something that's a speciallity in the north, isn't it? Never heard about that here in Baden-Württemberg. But I know about some bigger companys here, even local ones, that do contracts like that with a gym. And if you are working at a place that's part of the Öffentlicher Dienst, there are also some things you can benefit from. At my last job (HR) I did have to write some notes for employees that that company counts as Öffentlicher Dienst. Can't remember everything, where people got better conditions, I think one was an insurance thingy and the other was Kieser Training. I think there exist several similar concepts all over Germany :)
@@Mimms-1701D Hansefit has its origins in the north, in Bremen. On their website you can see that you can find partner studios all over Germany. So I assume that as a company in the south of Germany you can also sign a Hansefit contract
I'm a social studies teacher at a vocational school here in Germany. And I'm currently working with my class of administrative staff on the topic of the welfare state. We are currently on the subject of §5 of the Continued Remuneration Act. You receive your salary for 6 weeks. If you are on sick leave for longer for the same thing, you receive sick pay from the statutory health insurance. This is less than your salary. Max. 90 % of your last gross salary. You will receive this for a maximum of 72 weeks.
Sorry to tell you that, if you're sick and can't work but have to anyway is crazy
But is logical that you at least do not get paid.
Not to forget that you have full health insurance with every job. Three years ago I had to see many specialists, an operation, physiotherapy etc. I didn't pay 100 euros for all the treatments combined. I had for 9 months money from my health insurance because I was unable to work during that time. And then I was helped to find a new job because I can no longer do my old job.
As a temporary postman, he would earn 16.32 euros per hour from April 2024. The weekly working time is 38.5 hours.
11:35 "HITZEFREI!"
*I feel like I have old school memories*
Except for servers, etc., people make earn money per hour in America.
I worked in the factory at VW many years ago. At that time we had a 4 day week = 28.8 hours + 30 days of paid vacation, Christmas bonus and performance bonus. My annual income was 50,000 euros. I quit in 2006.
One of my closest relatives is very sick and is at home for about five years now, still employed, still gets money. Germany takes good care about its people
If you are ill more than 2 Months in one go, the employer mustn't pay your vage. Then the healthensurence pays it, but it might be less.
I work in a German sawmill. They social benefits that everyone gets here in Germany are supplemented here with free fruit, coffee or tea. and it's the same for everyone every day. a breakfast for 1-2€ . A hot lunch for 1.5 - 3.5€ every day incl. a small dessert.
He easily could get job with ~18-20€/hour before taxes and 30 days of vacation (excluding weekends -> 6 weeks off) with his exp. Hope he didn't stop searching.
His job is really super basic. If you have a decent factory job at a reputable company you get a lot more than that even for manual labor. (like 17€/hour, 40 hour week including breaks, 30 days paid vacation i.e. 6 weeks)
My husband was on sick leave for 14 months after he had a car accident. The employer pays for the first six weeks and then the health insurance is paying up to 18 months. The pay you get in Germany is less but rent and groceries are cheaper than in the US
Actually, legal minimum paid vacation is 20 days for a 5 day work week and 24 days if you work 6 days a week. Usually you get 30 days. So including public holidays (at least January 1st, Good friday, Easter Monday, Pentecost monday, May 1st, Oktober 3rd, December 24th to 26th, Dezember 31st) you work 42 days less than the 260 days you work. So we effectively earn 120% regarding the paid days we don't work.
My company has a very good tarifvertrage. So I get all of my holiday, and when I was 58 I got another 12 days holiday and now I'm 60 I get more days holiday. At the moment, I get 45 days holiday a year. And when I'm 63 it goes up another 5 days. Just a warehouse worker‼️
There are quite manual labour/ construction jobs in Australia where you get heat relief or work stops if it gets too hot. It used to happen when we had a car industry, if we were looking at a hot spell over 100°F for a week or more. It was relatively common when temps got over 95-97°F before midday, production would stop and shop floor employees were sent home. Office staff stayed because they were in air conditioned offices.
Austrian here. 5 weeks paid vacation, the most work-free holidays of europe on top of that. Unlimited sick leave. After 6 weeks the social security system takes over your pay from the employer (not 100%). If you have a chronic illness that keeps you from being able to work any type of job, you will be fully covered by the social security system. If you are on a lot of prescribed medications (which in itself has a capped price of I think 6,50€ per medication) you only have to pay a kind of small fee instead of the whole price. A lot more stuff like that, also family related and education related and living expenses and so much more to find. It can get rather beaurocraty and annoying, but if you keep at it, you can get yourself a lot of help through the state to live comfortably. Our taxes are rather high though, especially on "work", which kind of takes away the incentif to work "more". We do still struggle to find that balance you know.
It is also worth mentioning that wages will continue to be paid in the event of illness. The entitlement to wages remains for the first 6 weeks. he health insurance company then continues to pay the net salary (Krankengeld). Pregnancy and childbirth count as illnesses. The expectant mother is entitled to “Krankengeld” 6 weeks before the expected delivery and 8 weeks after the actual delivery. The parent raising the child has a legal right to parental leave. The state provides childcare allowance for this purpose.
He said himself he doesen't speak german. If I moved to USA and could only speak german at first, I wouldn't get a good paying job either.
If you are sick in Germany, there are 2 things:
Your longer sick than 6 weeks: You get 60-66% from your payed Loan from the insurance.
If you are some times shorter than 6 weeks sick, your Boss pays the full loan. As long, as he will not fire you.
The first 6 weeks are allways payed full by the boss.
So if you are chronical Ill OR disabled, you get MORE vaccation days, and your sick days are paid for a certain amount of time by your employer BUT after a while your insurance steps in, and you get Krankengeld (Sick money) which is not your full wage anymore, but at least for a long while some kind of support.
12:00: Employer is required to look out for the well-being of the employees. For high temperatures, some work areas can be classed as hot workplaces. Foundries or so. Obviously they get a little more toasty than even that warehouse. For hot workplaces, employer has to provide adequate protection as available and hazard pay. For non-hot workplaces, employer has to make sure they do not get above 30°C for extended periods of time, and never above 35°C. And if they do, employer has to take "measures". That can mean sending people home. It can also mean handing out water bottles and ice cream.
If employer fails to take measures, it's basically an OSHA violation and grounds to sue.
9:50: Yes. If someone is too sick to work, the company is required to continue to employ them for a long time (was it 6 months? I forget). You do get reduced pay, but some of the reduction is feathered by the health insurance as sick pay. Last year, a colleague of mine had a medical mishap requiring them to not work for most of the year (9 months), and they continued to be employed no problem.
The four weeks paid vacation are only what are mandatory in Germany. Usually, the longer u are in a company, the more you have. I have six weeks plus all those public holidays.
This year, I'm additionally taking a three week "Mutter-Kind-Kur" which is basically a paid vacation with focus on mental health, stress limitation techniques (like sports, yoga and stuff) and recovery for myself and my two children. All paid for by my health care provider and I am being paid 100% of my salary on top 😉
So, this year I have six weeks paid leave, public holidays and three weeks "Kur" extra
Working in Luxemburg now, I was shoked to find out that holidays on weekends are added to your vacation days. With that they are not "lost". 😮
I have a QA colleage. He was working exactly 1 day in our company and is now certified sick for over a year. He has really trouble with his lungs and need the time for healing. This is how it works. The company has to pay his loan for six weeks and after that the insurance company is paying. The fact that this guy mentioned 13 bank holidays I know that he is working in Bavaria. Bavaria is the only State with 13 bank holidays.
I'm a little surprised about his vacation entitlement of 3 weeks. According to the Federal Holiday Act, all employees with a 5-day week in Germany are entitled to a minimum holiday of 20 days per year. However, higher vacation entitlements are usually agreed in collective agreements. 30 days are common.
BTW, you have to think about, what you have to pay extra or more in the USA than in Germany from your pay check. This equals his income.
Minimum wage in 2023 Germany was at 12,00 EUR (13.44$ to 13.57$), its now 12.44 EUR
Minimum vacation days are 4 weeks in a year, not 3 btw .. and there are 18 to 20 paid public holidays p.a
You are not allowed to work more than 8 hours per day by law, but there are rare exceptions allowed to work 10 hours per day
There must be at least half an hour break every 6 hours daily, up to 45 minutes, if you wokr more that 9 hours that day
Health care is not "free" - you pay about 7.3% from your salary to health care
All-in-all you pay about 20.5% off your salary - in total - to health care + unemployment / pension insurance = s.c. social payments
Sick days aren´t "unlimited": you get 6 weeks 100%paid , after that it´s about 70% from your net salary (after taxes and social payments)
Taxes vary from 14% (16k) to 45% (300k), % it depends on your annual income
for explanation: if its over 26° C, the company is forced by law to ensure mesurements against overheating
when it gets over 33° C, they are forced by law to say to you "you can go home"
if they dont follow the law, they can get HUGE payments
To fill in your question regarding the amount of paid holidays. I for myself have 29 days of vacation at my current job. Some friends of mine have even more like 36 and up to 42 days. For many workers it also possible to accumulate the overtime hours and spend those as additional holidays. Most of the time I barely manage to spent all my vacation days 😅 because alongside there are some national holidays - 10 to 12 days depending on your state - to further extend potential holiday time with clever planning.
To answer your question about missing for weeks or months due to chronic - or just about any long-term - illnesses: that usually works just like that, yes. However, here's why: for up to six weeks of illness, employers have to continue paying full wages. However, if these medium-term sick leaves tend to happen too often, this CAN become a reason for employers to rightfully terminate contracts. (Yes, German employers cannot just terminate every type of employment contract on a whim.) Beyond those initial six weeks (of the same sickness/reason) employees will receive something which could be called a "sick wage" which is a reduced amount of your full wage (80%, I think) and which is paid directly by the insurance. I.e., after 6 weeks of being sick, your employer no longer has any costs, except secondary ones, e.g. for potential temporary replacements, delayed projects, etc. Furthermore, as long as long as you are sick, you are protected from being fired. (If it seems to become a permanent situation, employer and employee can of course come to an agreement on canceling an employment contract, since the then former employee would still be covered by the social security net in other ways and usually, it doesn't make much sense or work out to return to your job after maybe having been gone for years.)
i think he was a bit confused when he said 3 weeks... 15 days vacation time is illegal for fulltime lol its over 4 weeks