Qualified Employment Reference (Qualifiziertes Arbeitszeugnis)

QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT REFERENCE (QUALIFIZIERTES ARBEITSZEUGNIS) (Reference type — § 109 Gewerbeordnung "GewO")

✓Employer name ✓Employer address

To whom it may concern,

✓Employee name was employed with us as "✓Position" from Period start to Period end.

1. LEGAL BASIS 1.1. Under § 109 GewO, an employee may at any time request a reference — a full/qualified reference at the end of employment, or, on request during ongoing employment, an interim reference (Zwischenzeugnis). 1.2. A German reference must be simultaneously TRUTHFUL (wahr) and BENEVOLENT (wohlwollend) — it may not contain anything false, but must be worded to give the employee a fair chance in the job market. It must also be COMPLETE (vollständig): silently omitting an important, negative fact is itself considered misleading.

2. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 2.1. Duties and responsibilities

3. PERFORMANCE 3.1. ✓Employee name performed the assigned tasks Performance rating. 3.2. ⚠️ German reference culture uses standardised, "coded" phrasing — for example, "bemühte sich" ("endeavoured to") is widely read as a euphemism for poor performance, and dropping from "stets" to a rating without "stets" is itself a signal. Choose the rating that genuinely and fairly reflects the employee's performance; do not default to the top rating if unwarranted, and do not use a lower-tier phrase to disguise a personal conflict.

4. CONDUCT 4.1. Conduct towards superiors, colleagues and customers/guests was Conduct rating.

5. REASON FOR LEAVING 5.1. Reason for leaving

6. CLOSING 6.1. We thank ✓Employee name for their service and wish them every success in their future career.

7. FORM 7.1. Since BEG IV (in force since 01.01.2025), an Arbeitszeugnis may be issued electronically ONLY with a qualified electronic signature (qualifizierte elektronische Signatur "QES") AND the employee's consent; paper with a handwritten signature remains the default and the safest form.

Issued on Issue date by ✓Employer name.

______________ / ✓Signed on behalf of the Employer by /

— — — ⚠️ This is a boilerplate template, not legal advice. German employment, consumer-protection, data-protection and workplace-safety law (BGB, Nachweisgesetz "NachwG", ArbSchG, MiLoG, SGB IV, DSGVO/BDSG, DDG, EGBGB Art. 246a) changes frequently and includes sector-specific exceptions — notably § 2a Gesetz gegen Schwarzarbeit "SchwarzArbG", which keeps the Gaststätten- und Beherbergungsgewerbe (restaurants and hotels) on paper-only Schriftform even after the BEG IV digitalisation reform. Statutory figures (Mindestlohn, Minijob-Grenze) are re-indexed periodically — have this document reviewed and adapted by a German employment/legal advisor (Rechtsanwalt/Steuerberater) and verified against the current rates before use. Where a German-language version of this document is also used, that version prevails in case of conflict.