Employment legal insurance in Germany: Essentials
- In employment law court proceedings, the parties pay their legal costs in the first instance — regardless of who wins the case. With employment legal insurance, you protect yourself against the legal costs of a legal dispute with your employer and ensure your legal representation.
- Employment legal insurance is worth it for all employees who may expect legal disputes in their working environment.
- Freelancers and the self-employed do not need employment legal insurance — insurance providers offer particular professional legal protection insurance policies for these customers.
- Employment legal insurance is not available as a stand-alone policy but only as part of other legal protection insurance — usually private legal protection.
- For expats in Germany, we particularly recommend the legal policies from FinTech insurers Feather and Getsafe, which offer their customers high-performance and affordable rates. You can take advantage of these two companies’ benefits in English if necessary.
Benefits in employment legal protection
You can only book employment legal protection insurance as a module of a more comprehensive package — typically together with private legal insurance.
Labor law disputes can be expensive for those affected. For example, with a value in dispute of €10,000, you can expect to pay legal fees of just under €3,000 to over €4,000 in the first instance. You also have to consider that in an employment law case, each party must bear its lawyer and court fees in the first instance. Employment legal insurance secures your legal representation in this field of activity.
Legal insurance coverage
The following cases are particularly relevant in labor law. Employment legal insurance covers:
- Warnings
- dismissals
- severance payments
- Unpaid salaries, bonuses, and special payments (vacation and Christmas bonuses)
- Overtime payments
- Disputed references
- Company pension schemes
- Employment law cases relating to youth and maternity protection
- Bullying in the workplace
- Violations of the Anti-Discrimination Act
Costs covered by employment legal insurance
Employment legal insurance policies cover these legal expenses:
- costs for representation by a lawyer
- court costs
- Expert costs
- Costs for out-of-court mediation (not in all tariffs)
- Bailiff’s costs
- If applicable, the lawyer’s and court costs of the opposing side (for proceedings in higher instances)
Non-insured cases
It’s important to note that there are instances where employment legal insurance may not provide coverage. Common exclusion reasons include general employment law advice, incidents that occurred before the insurance contract was in place, or during the waiting period, and intentional or criminal acts by the insured person.
- General employment law advice, as no insured event has yet occurred. However, some insurance companies offer their customers legal advice from their lawyers.
- Legal cases that arose before the insurance contract was concluded or during the waiting period
- Intentional or criminal acts by the insured person
- Lack of prospects of success
Some insurers exclude certain types of contracts — for example, fixed-term contracts, contracts for a mini-job, or termination agreements — from their employment law coverage.
Waiting periods
The waiting periods of a legal insurance contract are usually three months — only after this period are legal costs covered for the first time. Some insurance companies offer policies with shorter or longer waiting periods. However, you can expect to pay higher premiums if the waiting period is less than 3 months.
If you change your legal insurance provider, the waiting period can be waived if you prove you are fully insured. The waiting periods start again after just one day’s break.
Criteria for choosing a policy
When choosing a specific policy, you should pay particular attention to these aspects:
- Legal insurance cost: The price and the price-performance-ratio of the tariff
- Sum insured: We recommend a policy covering at least €5 million or unlimited coverage within Europe.
- Legal advice by telephone: This type of advice is often enough to clarify your questions so that you no longer need to go to a lawyer. With a reasonable tariff, you can take advantage of an unlimited number of such consultations free of charge.
- Deductible: These policies include deductibles—usually between €300 and €500—which are sometimes waived if a legal dispute can be settled out of court.
- No-claims bonuses: Some insurers grant a no-claims bonus. The excess is reduced with each claim-free year but increases again after a claim and is typically higher than the initial amount.
- Termination by the insurer: After two claims per calendar or insurance year, the insurance company is entitled to terminate your contract. So, it is essential to clarify what your insurer considers a claim. Legal advice over the phone should not be part of this. After termination by the insurance company, it may become more difficult for you to find legal expenses insurance on favorable terms.
Legal insurance costs
In an independent study, Stiftung Finanztest quoted 2023 the following prices for combined private, traffic, and occupational legal protection:
- Single insurance plan: €20-€57 monthly/€240-€680 yearly
- Insurance plan for families: €22-€68 monthly/€260-€820 yearly
These factors influence the premium amount:
- Your age and place of residence
- The integrated areas of law
- Deductibles
- The special conditions of the insurance company
The best employment legal insurance in Germany
You can take out employment legal protection policies with numerous insurance companies. Comparison calculators on the Internet and independent product evaluations or expert advice can help you with your research.
Here, we present the policies from FinTech insurers Feather and Getsafe, which also provide some of the best legal insurance in Germany. Both companies offer various other insurance policies for private consumers. Feather’s portfolio also includes private health insurance.
Do you need an insurance provider who is also familiar with the needs of expats in Germany? Then, both legal insurance providers are an excellent choice for you. Both companies focus their offers strongly on expats. Their websites and apps are available in English and German. Consultations and the processing of insurance matters are also possible in both languages. Except for telephone consultations, both companies provide their services entirely digitally. You can reach their customer support by phone and email.
Feather employment legal protection
Feather has put together a comprehensive package comprising personal legal protection, traffic legal protection, and employment legal protection. This package offers a wide range of coverage, ensuring safety in various legal situations. With this comprehensive coverage, you can feel secure and protected in various legal scenarios, knowing you have the necessary support and protection.
- Basic: cover of €1 million within the EU and €250,000 worldwide
- Advanced: unlimited cover in the EU, €500,000 worldwide
These sums insured, therefore, also apply to employment law cover. The waiting period in the Basic plan is 6 months, with the Advanced 3 months.
Feather’s employment legal protection benefits include
- Free legal advice from the company’s lawyers
- Legal advice on termination agreements — up to €1,000 per year
- Only in the Advanced tariff: Professional legal protection for part-time self-employed persons with a maximum annual turnover of €22,000
The price for Feather’s offer starts at €13.51 per month. After you enter personal information on the company’s website, Feather will digitally provide you with a personalized quote.
The excess for the insurance is variable. It starts at €300 per year as standard. Lower excesses are possible if you have already had legal expenses insurance in Germany in the past 5 years. After every year without a claim, the excess is reduced by €100 to be wholly waived after 3 claim-free years. After one insured event, it rises to €500.
A preventive review of contracts, except for termination agreements, is not provided. Full-time self-employed people must refrain from taking out this insurance policy.
Getsafe employment legal protection
Getsafe also offers its customers combined private, traffic, and professional legal insurance.
Only one tariff is available from this insurance provider. The sum insured is unlimited within the EU and €500,000 worldwide. The price for the standard package starts at €15.12 per month.
The policy covers the following areas:
- Severance pay and vacation pay
- Warnings and dismissals
- Legal advice on termination agreements (up to a maximum of €1,000)
- Legal advice on employer insolvencies (up to a maximum of €500)
- Assumption of costs for an initial telephone consultation on pensions and annuities
A unique feature of the Getsafe policy is that it also covers fields of work that fall under professional legal protection for civil servants and members of the liberal professions. The insurance also supports civil servants in disciplinary disputes with their employers. For members of liberal professions organized in chambers — for example, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, tax consultants, or architects — it covers the costs of professional disputes if the insured person is accused of a corresponding offense.
The insurer’s services include a 24/7 lawyers’ hotline. The initial consultation with an external or internal lawyer is free of charge.
The waiting period for Getsafe’s employment and professional legal protection is 6 months but does not apply to legal advice.
This insurance company also has an initial excess of €300, which is reduced by €100 after each year without a claim. After a claim, you pay an excess of €500 the following year.
Although Getsafe also covers disciplinary and professional law for civil servants and members of chamber professions, you can only take it out as an employee. However, legal costs for insurance claims referring to part-time self-employment are covered, provided the annual gross turnover does not exceed €17,500.
Conclusion
Employment legal insurance protects employees in Germany from the high costs of a legal dispute with their employer. This insurance is always a module of a more comprehensive policy. Insurers usually combine private, traffic, and employment legal protection.
The waiting period before benefits can be claimed under employment legal protection is typically 3 months, but shorter or longer waiting periods are also possible.
For expats in Germany, we particularly recommend digital legal protection insurance from FinTech insurers Feather and Getsafe. In addition to excellent benefits and transparent conditions, they offer their customers comprehensive service in English.
Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ
Employment and professional legal protection are often used interchangeably, but they mean different things. Employment legal protection policies insure the costs of legal disputes with the employer—they are only suitable for employees. Professional legal expenses policies protect the self-employed and freelancers against legal fees arising from disputes with customers, business partners, authorities, professional associations, or their employees.
If you want to co-insure your spouse, you must choose a family tariff, which is slightly pricier than single tariffs. If you have unmarried children who are still in school or vocational training (including university studies), they are also insured under your legal policy. However, a family tariff is always significantly cheaper than individual tariffs to insure several people.
This question depends on your professional situation and your employer. In large companies with a substantial works’ council, the employee representatives also stand up for the rights of employees — including legal advice and legal support. In smaller companies, it is more likely that employment law disputes will end with a visit to a lawyer and a lawsuit.
We think that employment legal insurance worth for all employees is. The costs are also manageable, especially if you buy your policy from one of the young digital insurers.
Waiting periods are the time between the conclusion of the contract and the start of insurance coverage. Insurance companies intend to prevent the policy from being taken out only when a legal dispute is imminent. Employment law cover is always part of a combined policy. Different waiting periods may apply for the integrated areas of law.