An interim reference (Zwischenzeugnis) is a reference letter issued during a still-ongoing employment relationship — as opposed to the final reference (Endzeugnis) issued when the employment ends. You can demand a Zwischenzeugnis when you have a legitimate reason (berechtigtes Interesse). In some cases, an interim reference is the most valuable single document in your file.
When you have a legitimate reason
- A change of direct manager. The person who can best assess your work is leaving or moving; you have an interest in capturing the assessment before institutional memory fades. This is the most universally accepted ground.
- An internal application. You are applying for another role inside the same company or group and need a written reference for the application file.
- An upcoming reorganisation, sale of the business, or management buyout. The new ownership or structure creates uncertainty; a current Zwischenzeugnis preserves your record.
- A long period without a reference. After several years of employment without a reference, an interim Zeugnis is usually granted as a matter of good practice even without a specific trigger.
- An external job application in some cases — though employers often resist this on the grounds that an open job search risks the trust relationship. Some courts accept the external application as a valid reason; others do not. Conservative approach: invoke one of the other reasons first.
- Promotion within the company. The role change itself is a natural trigger.
- Change of business unit or location. Like a promotion, a structural change in your role is a valid ground.
- The end of an Elternzeit (parental leave). A Zwischenzeugnis covering the pre-Elternzeit period locks in the assessment before the new context potentially complicates matters.
- The end of a probation period. Particularly useful if you have a long contract and want to lock in the early-performance assessment.
What it should contain
A Zwischenzeugnis follows the same structure as a final reference (employer, employee data, duties, performance assessment, conduct assessment) — but instead of a closing formula about your departure, it ends with a statement like:
„Dieses Zwischenzeugnis wird auf Wunsch der Mitarbeiterin / des Mitarbeiters ausgestellt.”
Or with a forward-looking sentence:
„Wir wünschen Frau / Herrn X für den weiteren Verlauf des Arbeitsverhältnisses weiterhin viel Erfolg und schätzen die fortgesetzte Zusammenarbeit.”
The grading conventions are identical to the Endzeugnis — same magic-formula summary sentences for performance (Grade 1: „stets zu unserer vollsten Zufriedenheit” … Grade 6: „hat sich bemüht”) and the same conduct grading conventions. If the coded language is new to you, read our guides to Zeugnis grading and the standard Zeugnis phrases first — a Zwischenzeugnis that reads politely to an English speaker can carry a Grade 4 in code.
The anatomy: what each paragraph must contain
A qualified Zwischenzeugnis follows a fixed architecture — gaps are themselves a signal to German readers:
Opening: your full name, current position and the start date of the employment — plus, since this is an interim document, a phrase making clear the employment is ongoing. Company description: one or two sentences on the employer’s business and size, framing the weight of your role. Task description: the heart of the document — your responsibilities in descending order of importance, including team size, budget or revenue responsibility and projects; it must be specific enough that a stranger understands what you actually do, because generic boilerplate devalues everything that follows. Performance assessment: several sentences covering willingness, ability, working method, results and expertise, capped by the summary grade sentence. Conduct assessment: behaviour towards superiors, colleagues and external partners — in that order; a reshuffled or shortened list is a classic coded downgrade. Closing: the interim-specific element — the reason for issuance (ideally a neutral one) and a forward-looking sentence of thanks and continued cooperation, whose absence is read as coolness.
Strategic uses of the Zwischenzeugnis
Strategic timing: when to ask matters as much as whether
Because the Zwischenzeugnis creates a documented baseline, the moment you request it determines what gets locked in. Four windows matter:
- Before a restructuring is announced, not after. Once redundancies are on the table, HR reads every Zwischenzeugnis request as exit preparation and drafts defensively. If you sense change coming — new investors, merger rumours, a cost-cutting programme — request the reference while the official narrative is still „business as usual”. A strong Zwischenzeugnis obtained early becomes evidence and leverage later, both in a dismissal-protection claim and in severance negotiations.
- Before parental leave begins. Get it issued before your last working day, so the assessment reflects your actual record, uncoloured by absence — protection against the subtle grade erosion returning parents too often find.
- While the departing manager is still there. Ask early enough that the person who actually observed your work can review or co-draft before handover — a successor who never worked with you will default to cautious mid-grades.
- At the moment of promotion or role change. Capture the old role’s assessment before the new role’s learning curve begins; otherwise early stumbles in the new position can bleed into how the old one is described.
The legal reason this timing game works is the Bindungswirkung: the courts treat the employer as largely bound by its own prior assessment. It may deviate in the later Endzeugnis only on the basis of circumstances that changed after the Zwischenzeugnis — and bears the burden of substantiating them (the binding effect weakens with time and applies with full force mainly to the period the Zwischenzeugnis covers). A well-timed Zwischenzeugnis converts today’s goodwill into tomorrow’s floor.
The form
Request the Zwischenzeugnis in writing, briefly identifying the legitimate reason. A typical request reads:
„Sehr geehrte/r [HR-Verantwortliche/r], wegen des bevorstehenden Wechsels meines Vorgesetzten zum 1. April 2026 bitte ich um Erteilung eines qualifizierten Zwischenzeugnisses, das meine bisherige Tätigkeit umfasst. Bitte stellen Sie das Zeugnis bis spätestens 30. April 2026 zur Verfügung. Mit freundlichen Grüßen…”
Most employers respond within two to four weeks. If yours does not, a formal demand with a 14-day deadline is usually enough; if that also fails, the claim is enforceable at the labor court alongside any other open claims. The Streitwert for a Zwischenzeugnis claim is typically one monthly salary (BAG, 12.10.2010, 9 AZB 13/10).
Drafting your own version to submit
Many employers will accept a draft you submit, then minimally edit it. This is a powerful tactic. We can draft a Zwischenzeugnis for you in your manager’s voice, aligned with the standard German conventions, and you submit it as „for your convenience”. HR departments under time pressure often sign with minimal changes.
The drafted version we typically include:
- Specific, detailed duty description matching your actual scope.
- Multi-paragraph performance assessment covering motivation, working method, results, ability to handle pressure, knowledge.
- Grade-2 or Grade-1 summary line for performance (with evidence ready if challenged).
- Conduct assessment in the standard order (superiors, colleagues, external partners).
- Forward-looking closing sentence about continued cooperation.
What if the employer refuses or delays?
Three escalation steps:
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Friendly written request
A polite written request citing the legitimate reason and a reasonable deadline. Most employers respond.
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Formal demand with deadline
A formal Geltendmachung citing § 109 GewO with a 14-day deadline. Reserves the right to file at the labor court if not satisfied.
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Klage at the Arbeitsgericht
Filed alongside any open employment claim, or standalone. The Streitwert is typically one monthly salary. Most cases settle at the Gütetermin.
Two deadline warnings belong here. First, many contracts contain cut-off clauses under which claims lapse if not asserted in text form within, typically, three months — and courts have applied such clauses to Zeugnis claims too, depending on the clause wording; assert early rather than test the question (see Ausschlussfristen). Second, even without such a clause, waiting many months can cost the claim through Verwirkung (forfeiture by inaction) and weakens the outcome — memories fade and drafting drifts toward boilerplate. If a Zwischenzeugnis is issued but the content or grade is wrong, the route is the same as for a final reference — a correction claim, covered in our guides on Zeugnis correction and the Zeugnis dispute process.
The Zwischenzeugnis and the eventual Endzeugnis
Once a Zwischenzeugnis with specific wording is on file, the subsequent Endzeugnis cannot drop below that grade without substantial new justification (BAG, 14.10.2003, 9 AZR 12/03). The employer would have to prove that performance deteriorated materially after the Zwischenzeugnis date. Without such proof, the Endzeugnis must continue the Zwischenzeugnis grade or improve on it.
This is why we recommend obtaining a Zwischenzeugnis at any natural milestone (manager change, role change, promotion, return from leave) — it creates a paper trail of locked-in grades that becomes the floor for the final reference.
Three boundaries are worth knowing. The Zwischenzeugnis does not replace the Endzeugnis: at termination you are entitled to a final reference covering the entire employment, and you should request it even with a strong interim reference on file. The binding effect covers primarily the period up to the Zwischenzeugnis date — for the time after it, the employer assesses freshly, so a three-year-old interim reference does not immunise the recent past. And where the employment ends shortly after a Zwischenzeugnis was issued, the employer can often satisfy the Endzeugnis claim by carrying the interim text forward with a closing paragraph — exactly the outcome you want if the interim version was drafted well. In dismissal situations, remember that the reference battle runs on a separate track: the three-week deadline applies to challenging the dismissal, not to the Zeugnis claim, but both are typically bundled in the same proceedings.
Common employer mistakes in Zwischenzeugnisse
- Refusing without a valid reason. § 109 GewO does not allow refusal where a legitimate interest exists. Generic „we don’t issue Zwischenzeugnisse” is not a valid response.
- Providing only a „simple” Zeugnis. If you ask for „qualifiziert” (with performance and conduct assessment), the employer must provide that — a simple Zeugnis is not enough where the qualified version was requested.
- Issuing a Zwischenzeugnis with worse grading than the underlying performance justifies. Subject to the same correction rights as an Endzeugnis.
- Using boilerplate that is so generic it fails the specificity requirement. Particularly problematic for senior roles.
- Long delays. The duty to issue a Zeugnis is „unverzüglich” — without undue delay. Stretches of 6–12 weeks are typical; delays beyond that justify a formal demand.
Special situations
Zwischenzeugnis during Elternzeit
You can request a Zwischenzeugnis at the start of Elternzeit (covering the pre-leave period). This is a useful step both for future Endzeugnis purposes and for an interim job search during the leave period. Some courts accept the leave itself as a legitimate reason; others require a more specific trigger.
Zwischenzeugnis after a Betriebsübergang (§ 613a BGB)
When the business is transferred to a new owner under § 613a BGB, you can request a Zwischenzeugnis from the previous owner covering the pre-transfer period. This locks in the assessment before the new ownership begins.
Zwischenzeugnis after a Sozialplan
In large restructurings, the Sozialplan often includes a right to a Zwischenzeugnis or Endzeugnis with specified content. Always check the Sozialplan before negotiating individually.
Worked example
Lisa, a marketing manager at a 400-employee insurance company in Cologne, learns that her direct manager is leaving in 6 weeks. She has been at the company 4 years with consistently strong performance reviews. She requests a Zwischenzeugnis citing the manager change.
We help her submit a fully drafted version: Grade 1 (sehr gut) performance summary supported by her performance reviews, Grade 1 conduct assessment, detailed duty description matching her actual seniority, forward-looking closing.
HR returns the signed version after 2 weeks with two minor wording adjustments. The Zwischenzeugnis is now on file. Three years later, the company restructures and Lisa is offered an Aufhebungsvertrag. The Zwischenzeugnis means her Endzeugnis must be at least Grade 1 — and in the settlement negotiation, this strengthens her position both on severance (employer can’t argue performance issues) and on the Endzeugnis itself.
Frequently asked questions
How often can I request a Zwischenzeugnis?
As often as a fresh legitimate reason arises — the right is trigger-based, not an annual allowance. A new manager, a promotion, a departmental move or an approaching restructuring each restart the clock; what you cannot do is demand quarterly updates on an unchanged situation. Employees who collect a Zwischenzeugnis at every genuine milestone build the strongest files, and if several years have passed since the last one, that alone is widely accepted as sufficient reason for a refresh.
Won’t asking for a Zwischenzeugnis make my employer think I’m about to quit?
Only if you let the request speak for itself. Frame it around a neutral, verifiable trigger — „since Ms X is handing over the team in April, I’d like my work under her documented” — and it reads as good administration, not a resignation warning. This is why the external-application ground is best avoided as the stated reason even where courts would accept it. If you genuinely are preparing to leave, the calculus still favours asking: a locked-in interim grade outweighs the small signalling risk, and a retaliatory downgrade or sudden criticism following such a request is itself challengeable.