The Dedicated Employee: Volunteering and German Employment Law
According to the 2024 German Volunteer Survey (Deutscher Freiwilligensurvey 2024), around 27 million people in Germany volunteer—from political campaigns and the volunteer fire service to emergency response, the Federal Technical Relief Agency (Technisches Hilfswerk (THW)), disaster relief, honorary judgeships, and associations—but what happens when volunteering conflicts with the employment relationship?
