Planning vacation cover: tips and the legal basics

What is vacation cover? 

Vacation cover means an employee who stands in for a colleague while that colleague is on vacation. During this time the stand-in takes on the tasks, or at least part of the tasks, of the colleague on leave. Vacation cover makes sure the business can keep running smoothly, deadlines are met and projects are not delayed. 

The stand-in is not obliged to take on all of the colleague's tasks. Only those tasks that come with deadlines or that other employees depend on being completed. You should avoid a situation where employees who have been assigned vacation cover have to work overtime because of the extra tasks. 

Who is responsible for vacation cover? 

In principle, responsibility for organising vacation cover lies with the employer. They can decide both who takes on the cover and how tasks are split among employees, so that no individual is overloaded. In many companies, though, vacation cover is a matter for the team. 

Teams have to coordinate their vacation periods so that stand-ins are not on vacation at the same time.

When assigning vacation cover, bear in mind that the stand-in should ideally hold the same position in the company or at least handle similar tasks. 

Am I obliged to take on vacation cover? 

Vacation cover falls under the employer's right to give instructions. So if the terms of the cover comply with the legal framework, it has to be taken on. Employees can, for example, point out to their employer that they are struggling with the colleague's tasks, if the handover was inadequate or if taking on the extra tasks stretches the time available too far. 

Refusing vacation cover - when is that possible? 

The following legal requirements also have to be observed for vacation cover: 

• The cover must fall within the stand-in's normal working hours. That means: if a shift has to be taken over from a colleague on vacation that falls outside the stand-in's legally defined working hours, the employee can refuse the cover. That applies, for example, to night shifts or working hours that are contractually limited to weekdays. 
• Overtime may only be worked as part of vacation cover if the contract states that overtime can be ordered. So if the employment contract, the collective agreement or the collective bargaining agreement does not state that overtime is to be worked, the employee may refuse the vacation cover. 
• Maximum working hours must not be exceeded. As a rule there is a maximum working time of 48 hours per week; in exceptional cases, and with subsequent compensation, a maximum of 60 hours per week may be worked. That corresponds to a daily maximum working time of 8 or 10 hours respectively. 
• Rest periods and break times must also be observed. Employees providing vacation cover must take a 30-minute break after at least 6 hours of work. After 9 hours they are entitled to a break of 45 minutes. In addition, a rest period of at least 11 hours must be observed between shifts. 

Paula Menninghaus, co-founder of Strong Partners and a clockin customer herself, confirms how much easier this makes day-to-day work:

“With us it works like this: when someone submits a vacation request or a sick leave notification through clockin, the stand-ins are named right away. In small companies in particular, where there are not three or four backups for everything, it is smart to think it through beforehand: if this person is out, who actually covers for them?” – Paula Menninghaus, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Strong Partners

Paula explains how Strong Partners turned this cover arrangement into a building block of their crisis resilience in the podcast episode „Angepackt“ – including the question of what actually makes a young company resilient.

Statutory rules on vacation cover 

The following legal points can be noted around vacation cover. 

1. Assigning vacation cover is up to the employer. So the employer is not obliged to organise vacation cover on their own initiative. 
2. The cover must be reasonable, fall within the stand-in's area of work and not lead to an excessive additional burden on the employee. 
3. It must comply with the terms of the employment contract. These often set out which tasks have to be taken on in the case of vacation cover and whether overtime may be worked. 
4. Vacation cover may only be refused if the tasks fall outside the scope of the employment contract, constitute an excessive workload or are unreasonable.

Using mini-jobbers or working students as vacation cover 

If the tasks of someone on leave cannot be taken over by other full-time staff, one option is to make use of the flexible arrangements available to mini-jobbers or working students, by agreement. Under certain circumstances they can work more hours for a shorter period. Here too the legal requirements of the German Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz, ArbZG) must be observed, and the extra tasks must be reasonable for the stand-ins.  

How mini-jobbers can take on vacation cover: 

Legally, a maximum of €7,236 a year (as of 2026) may be earned in a mini-job or as a temporary helper. That works out at a monthly limit of €603. However, the annual limit does not have to be met evenly across the year. Mini-jobbers may also work more hours for a certain period if they work less at another time. 

So you can, for example, have mini-jobbers or temporary helpers take over the hours of an employee on leave for two weeks (unless the contract says otherwise) and have them balance out the extra working time at a later point. In this way mini-jobbers can also be hired on a one-off basis for vacation cover. 

Read more about the legal framework for mini-jobs here. 

How working students can take on vacation cover: 

There is an additional rule for working students too that allows them to work more hours. The statutory maximum working time of 20 hours a week may be exceeded during semester breaks, in the evenings or at weekends. In total, though, the 20 hours a week may be exceeded for a maximum of 26 weeks a year. 

So during the summer semester break, for example, you can spread the vacation cover for full-time staff across working students. Unlike with mini-jobbers, the hours do not have to be balanced out later; they can simply be paid out as extra. 

Read more about the legal framework for working students here.