probationary period

noun · Probezeit

The probationary period is the Probezeit, an agreed opening phase of up to six months in which either side may terminate on two weeks’ notice, § 622 Abs. 3 BGB. It is a notice-period device, not the gate of dismissal protection: that gate is the statutory Wartezeit, which runs its own six-month clock whatever the contract calls the opening phase; the English term happily merges the two, the German law keeps them apart.

Which translation, when

vereinbarte Probezeitthe device: during an agreed Probezeit, for at most the first six months, the employment may be terminated on a notice period of two weeks, § 622 Abs. 3 BGB, by either side and without a fixed end-of-month date; the Probezeit exists only where agreed, it shortens the notice period, and it creates no dismissal-free zone of its own; a termination in the opening months is simply an ordinary termination on the short notice.

Probezeit ist nicht Wartezeitthe split: the English probationary period carries, in common usage, the start of protection against dismissal, and German law splits that into two institutes: the agreed Probezeit of § 622 Abs. 3 BGB, which governs the notice period, and the statutory Wartezeit of the general dismissal protection, the six-month gateway held by the Kündigungsschutz entry; the Wartezeit runs by force of law and independently of whether, and for how long, a Probezeit was agreed, so protection can begin although the contract still speaks of probation, and the absence of an agreed Probezeit does not open the protection a day earlier.

Why

The probationary period translates as Probezeit, and the pair is stable; what the entry must keep apart is the machinery behind the English word. In German law the Probezeit is a creature of agreement: where the parties agree an opening phase, for at most the first six months, either side may terminate on a notice period of two weeks, § 622 Abs. 3 BGB, free of the end-of-month dates of the ordinary scale. That is all the Probezeit does. It shortens the notice period; it does not suspend the need for the ordinary rules to be observed, and it creates no special regime of probationary dismissal: a termination in the opening months is an ordinary termination on the short notice. The protection question lives elsewhere. English usage lets the probationary period carry the start of dismissal protection, as if passing probation were the moment the law begins to shield the employee. German law splits the two: the gate of the general dismissal protection is the statutory Wartezeit, a six-month threshold that the Kündigungsschutz entry holds, and that clock runs by force of law, from the start of the employment, independently of whether a Probezeit was agreed, how long it was agreed for, or whether the contract still calls the phase probation. So protection can begin while the contract speaks of an extended probation, and waiving the Probezeit buys the employee longer notice, not earlier protection. The translation consequence is concrete: a clause tying the start of protection to the successful completion of the probationary period states English expectation, not German law, and a German text should let the two clocks run separately, Probezeit for the notice period, Wartezeit for the protection.

Typical mistakes

The Probezeit exists only where agreed and caps at six months, so a probationary period written into the ninth month has left § 622 Abs. 3 BGB behind.
The Probezeit governs the notice period, the statutory Wartezeit governs the start of dismissal protection, so tying protection to passing probation misstates German law.
A dismissal during probation is an ordinary dismissal on two weeks’ notice, so reading the phase as a dismissal-free zone, or as one needing special probationary grounds, misdraws it in both directions.

What matters

Reviewing an employment contract or an offer letter with a probation clause: the translation should say Probezeit, keep the two-week notice of § 622 Abs. 3 BGB attached, and let the start of dismissal protection follow the statutory Wartezeit rather than the contractual phase.

Authority

§ 622 Abs. 3 BGB

What the machine misses

Rendered by machine, probationary period becomes Probezeit smoothly, and the trouble sits beside the word: English usage lets the probation carry the start of dismissal protection, while German law splits the two, the agreed Probezeit of § 622 Abs. 3 BGB shortens the notice period, and the statutory Wartezeit runs its own six-month clock, so a text tying protection to the agreed probation misstates both institutes.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

during the probationary period	während der Probezeit
a probationary period of six months is agreed	eine Probezeit von sechs Monaten wird vereinbart
terminated on two weeks’ notice	mit einer Frist von zwei Wochen gekündigt
after successful completion of the probationary period	nach erfolgreichem Ablauf der Probezeit

More notes on these sections

notice Mitteilung

notice period Kündigungsfrist