German employment contracts via Email

On 21 March 2024, the German government decided to abolish the written form requirement for employment contracts, which was only added to the German Evidence Act in August 2022 to implement the EU Transparency Directive. The corresponding bill to reduce bureaucracy however still has to pass the German parliament.

The Evidence Act currently requires employers to provide their employees with signed employment contracts. Failure to do so can even result in a fine of up to EUR 2,000. The currently required process means a considerable additional administrative burden for employers. In future, text form will be sufficient, which means that it will be enough if a legible declaration by the employer is submitted on a durable medium. This means in practice that in the future, employment contracts can be sent to employees by email, for example. Only if employees request this must the employer provide them with written proof. Nevertheless, employers should continue to ask their employees to confirm the terms and conditions of employment, e.g. by returning a scan of the countersigned employment contract, so that the agreement of the contractual terms can be proven.

Employment references are also intended to be covered by the simplification. On the other hand, certain formal requirements for special types of employment contracts remain in place. This applies in particular to fixed-term employment contracts and those with post-contractual non-competition clauses. In addition, the written form requirement for letters of termination and cancellation agreements remains in place.