freistellen (here)

English translation: notice period

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	Freistellungsphase
English translation:	notice period
Entered by:	Rowan Morrell

05:13 Aug 7, 2004

German to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law: Contract(s) / Employment Contract Termination

German term or phrase: freistellen (here)

"Im Zusammenhang mit dieser Aufhebungsvereinbarung sind Sie ab ________ unter Fortzahlung Ihres Entgelts von der Arbeitsleistung für die ABC GmbH bis zur Beendigung Ihres Arbeitsverhältnisses ***freigestellt***.

From an employment contract termination agreement. What does "freistellen" mean here exactly? Released? Exempted? Granted leave?

Variations on this word appear in subsequent paragraphs:

"Im Falle einer anderweitigen Arbeitsaufnahme während der ***Freistellungsphase*** sind Sie verpflichtet, uns diese unaufgefordert und unverzüglich mitzuteilen."

"Die ***Freistellung*** erfolgt unter Anrechnung Ihres restlichen Urlaubsanspruchs sowie unter Anrechnung eines eventuell vorhandenen Zeitguthabens."

TIA for helping me nail down the correct term or terms here.

Rowan Morrell KudoZ activity Questions: 2467 (none open) (62 closed without grading) Answers: 2776 New Zealand
Local time: 11:47

redundancy (UK)/layoff (US)

Explanation:
In the UK "redundancy" would work best, but I understand in the States you use "layoff", to "lay off" instead. (We use that term, too, but usually for short term periods, say if a factory hasn't got enought work in, whereas here - the folks are being "let go of" permanently.)

So amend my suggestions below in line with US usage:

"Im Zusammenhang mit dieser Aufhebungsvereinbarung sind Sie ab ________ unter Fortzahlung Ihres Entgelts von der Arbeitsleistung für die ABC GmbH bis zur Beendigung Ihres Arbeitsverhältnisses ***freigestellt***.
- Here I would say "you are being granted redundancy...". "You are being made redundant" is too colloquial here. Other options would be "your employment with XXX is being terminated", etc.

"Im Falle einer anderweitigen Arbeitsaufnahme während der ***Freistellungsphase*** sind Sie verpflichtet, uns diese unaufgefordert und unverzüglich mitzuteilen."

- In the UK we would almost certainly say "redundancy period", ie the period in which you're still officially employed but have been sent home as they don't want you on the premises anymore. Here, you'd still be paid as normal for that period, in most cases. Would you say "layoff period" in the States or don't you have that kind of system. Colloquially this is also known as "garden[ing] leave", espeically for executive-level employees, as s/o else has said.

"Die ***Freistellung*** erfolgt unter Anrechnung Ihres restlichen Urlaubsanspruchs sowie unter Anrechnung eines eventuell vorhandenen Zeitguthabens."
- Here, we'd have "Your redundancy package will take into consideration your remaining holiday entitlement and ..."

I hope this helps! (Substantial experience in the recruitment sector)

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Note added at 1 day 10 hrs 50 mins (2004-08-08 16:04:51 GMT)
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Rowan, sorry for some reason I assumed you were based in the States. If your text is for NZ or Oz, then you could I believe use \"redundancy\" etc.

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Note added at 1 day 20 hrs 57 mins (2004-08-09 02:11:49 GMT)
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[Continuation of note to asker]:
...being paid but don\'t have to go in - believe me, I\'ve been there! This is why in your text they\'re asking the employee to let them know if he/she gets another job in that period: so they can stop paying him/her for those few weeks, probably.

I really am pretty sure about this - it\'s rare that I\'d rate my confidence \"Highest - I am sure\" on an answer ;-) But I\'ll try and find you a quick ref to explain it...

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Note added at 1 day 21 hrs 10 mins (2004-08-09 02:24:11 GMT)
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Got the other term for \"Freistellungsphase\": \"Notice period\", see eg:
http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/personalfinance/features/s...

[cut and paste if too long]

See also this sentence \"If you find another job while you\'re still in your redundancy period, you can leave and still be entitled to your redundancy payment.\", from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onelife/work/rights/law_redund.s...

See also \"notice period\" on this site about Germany:
http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2003/11/tfeature/de0311102t...

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Note added at 1 day 21 hrs 12 mins (2004-08-09 02:26:10 GMT)
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These sites also explain the concept of \"garden leave\", ie a notice period where you\'re not expected to go in:
http://www.michaelpage.co.uk/controller?event=VIEW_SUBSECTIO...

http://www2.infomaticsonline.co.uk/Careers/Features/Redundan...

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Note added at 1 day 21 hrs 12 mins (2004-08-09 02:26:49 GMT)
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Another useful term instead of \"redundancy payment\" is \"severance pay\".

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Note added at 1 day 21 hrs 15 mins (2004-08-09 02:29:51 GMT)
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In the UK, a typical \"notice period\" (definitely better than \"redundancy period\") would be four weeks, or some times three months for a more senior executive, FYI.

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Note added at 2 days 2 hrs 41 mins (2004-08-09 07:55:35 GMT) Post-grading
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Note to Ingrid:

Well - you\'ve given me further thought after your latest comments, and after I did all that work to help Rowan. I have to say the main reason I disagreed with your answer quite strongly, was that \"leave of absence\" seemed to imply that the person was coming back (or would in UK usage, IMO), hence my disagreement with it. With further consideration, though, I think \"released from your duties\" would work very well if the person has not been made redundant (or even if he has), and for Rowan\'s last question \"release from duties\" could work well, too.
The reason I assumed that redundancy was involved was that in the UK this would also be the term used at least for middle managers, say in a sales or marketing role, when the company decides they no longer needs them. In such instances (as has happened to me more than once in the past), you would then be given a redundancy package/severance pay and sent home.
But I do agree now it might not be redundancy as such might not be involved here!
Anyway, back to the grind, or I will have to make myself redundant!

Selected response from:

Dr Andrew Read
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47

Grading comment

I feel kind of bad for not giving the points to Ingrid, who gave quite a good answer and got the vast majority of the "agrees". However, my question covered more than just the initial "freistellen" - I was also wondering about Freistellungsphase and Freistellung on its own later, and Andrew's answer covered that, although I have borne in mind what Ingrid said in her added note.

Anyway, for the first "freistellen", I have said "released from work for". For Freistellungsphase, I have used Andrew's "notice period", which I think works really well. For Freistellung on its own, I used Andrew's "redundancy package", although I wondered about "garden leave". But that may be too colloquial. I'm not completely confident about redundancy package though, although I'm pretty happy with the others.

So thank you very much for that impressive answer, Andrew - well-explained and well-researched, which is just what I like. Thanks also and commiserations to Ingrid, but you helped me as well. Last but not least, thanks also to Fred for his contribution. Appreciate everyone's help.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +7

release(d) from work (duty), leave of absence

Ingrid Blank

4 +1

relieved of your duties with xxx

Dr. Fred Thomson

redundancy (UK)/layoff (US)

Dr Andrew Read

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

33 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

release(d) from work (duty), leave of absence

Explanation:
were released from their duties or granted leave of absence - definitely not exempt or exemption here

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Note added at 2004-08-09 02:58:41 (GMT)
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@ Andrew: I don\'t think that redundancy or your suggestions \"you are being granted redundancy\" or \"your employment is being terminated\" would fit here. The employment has been terminated in any event and under the termination agreement the employee will be released from his duties until the termination date of his employment with continued salary payment.
Redundancy is betriebsbedingte Entlassung, i.e. Überflüssigwerden von Arbeitskräften als Entlassungsgrund
dismissal for (or by reason of) redundancy = Entlassung wegen Arbeitsmangels
layoff = (vorübergehende) Entlassung wegen mangelnder Beschäftigungsmöglichkeit unter Wegfall der Arbeitsvergütung

I assume that in this case the employee is a senior manager or someone at upper management level and the company does not want to involve him in further decision making processes considering that he is about to leave the company in any case and therefore they release him from his duties with full pay.

Ingrid Blank
PRO pts in category: 231

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

relieved of your duties with xxx

Explanation:
I am not sure whether released from work as suggested by Ingrid or my suggestion is better. Both work for me.

Dr. Fred Thomson
United States
Local time: 17:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 463

1 day 9 hrs confidence:

redundancy (UK)/layoff (US)

Dr Andrew Read
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28

Grading comment

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