Feuerfest

Someone I know from the Internet told me, that he applied at a company which offers "unlimited vacation days" in it's job ad. However, during the interview process it was revealed that they only write the absolute minimum amount of vacation days (20), required by German law, into the contract.

I find this to be concerning. As these two statements just differ too much and this sends a somewhat weird message. Especially from a legal viewpoint.

As long as the "unlimited vacation days" are not written into the employment contract it's just a marketing statement aimed at applicants. The only legally binding statement is the on in the employment contract - or any other sort of written contract, like an employer/works council agreement. 

German law (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettwerb (UWG) - or roughly "Unfair competition act" in english) states that advertisements must not be misleading and must be consistent with the actual terms of the contract. Is this given in this case? This alone opens a whole can of ethical and legal questions.

Again: Nothing regarding unlimited vacation days is in writing. Only the absolute minimum amount is granted legally, in order to be compliant with German law.

Hence my first simple question was: Why are they not writing "unlimited vacation days" into the contract? As far as I know nothing in German law prevents this. And due to the fact that every work contract contains wording stating that leave can/will only be granted if it does not adversely affect the company’s business, this shouldn't be a problem?

After all, words are cheap.

Then there are the question regarding company culture...

1. Are you even able to take 100 days off a years? Or do coworkers start to view you as a slacker? After all, they have to do your work while you are away.
2. What is the process to get days off approved? Is it even designed to work?
   • I had been at companies where the Annual Salary Round (ASR) was especially designed in a way that you couldn't really negotiate a raise. Trust me, I tried several times...
3. Are you legally entitled to unlimited vacation days?
4. Or is it dependent on your superiors? Creating a situation where team A has no problem in getting vacation days approved, but team B gets none.
   • Which is guaranteed to establish a positive and supportive corporate culture... *cough*
5. How psychological safe do you feel, to ask for a ridiculous amount of days off? Even if justified by your workplace achievements.
6. Or does the company just always have an excuse to not grant you the vacation days at all? Or just a very reduced amount..

Starting an interview process with all these questions about a future, potential employer is really not a great start..