Discrimination in Germany: your rights and what to do within 2 months

3 min read · 8 steps · Updated 3 October 2026

A flat that is suddenly taken when you give your name, a job rejection after a question about your headscarf, a door policy that only applies to some people: discrimination happens in Germany, although it is forbidden. You do not have to accept it. The law gives you the right to defend yourself, whatever your passport or residence status, and free advice centres help you do it.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your own case, speak to an advice centre.

Step by step

1. Know what counts

   Discrimination means being disadvantaged, excluded or harassed because of a characteristic, not because of something you did. The AGG, in force since 2006, covers six grounds: ethnic origin or racist reasons, gender, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual identity. It applies above all to working life and to everyday contracts, such as renting a flat, shopping, insurance, or entry to a club or gym.

   Done

2. Write it down the same day

   Make a memory record while it is fresh: date, time, place, who said or did what, in which words, and who was there. Details fade quickly, and a court or an advice centre will ask for them.

   Done

3. Collect evidence

   Keep emails, letters, chat messages, job adverts and photos. Ask witnesses for their names and phone numbers. Evidence matters because the other side will usually give another reason: the landlord will say the family was unfriendly at the viewing, not that the name was foreign.

   Done

4. Consider a test

   For flats and jobs, so-called testing can make the pattern visible: someone with the same profile but a German-sounding name sends the same request. If you were told the flat was taken and the second request gets a viewing, a court accepts that as strong evidence.

   Done

5. Get advice at once

   Call the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes) on 0800 546 546 5, or use its website to find an advice centre near you. The advice is free and available in several languages. The staff tell you whether the case counts as discrimination in law, and what your options are.

   Done

6. Mind the two-month deadline

   If you want compensation or damages under the AGG, you must make your claim to the employer, landlord or business in writing within two months of the incident. After that the right is lost, however clear the case. This is the reason not to wait.

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7. Complain where it happened

   At work, every employer must have a complaints office for discrimination, and must protect you once you have complained. With a company, write to the management. An advice centre can write the letter with you, or contact the other side on your behalf.

   Done

8. Go to court if needed

   If the other side does not respond, you can sue for compensation: at the labour court for work matters, at the local court for contracts. If the court is convinced, it can order compensation or damages. With a low income, legal aid covers the costs.

   Done

Good to know

Insults, threats and attacks are crimes as well. You can report them to the police at a station or online, also anonymously. In an emergency call 110.

Checks by the police based only on skin colour, known as racial profiling, are not allowed. Stay calm, ask for the reason for the check and the officer's service number, note witnesses, and take the case to an advice centre afterwards.

Not every difference in treatment is forbidden. A rule that favours a disadvantaged group, such as an employer preferring women where they are under-represented, can be lawful.

Help with costs: legal aid in Germany. Your rights at work: your work contract in Germany. Looking for a flat: how to find a flat in Germany.

Rules, amounts and deadlines change. Check the official source named at the end before you act, and ask the office in your city, because procedures differ from town to town.

In short: AGG: no worse treatment because of origin, gender, religion, age, disability or sexual identity. Memory record, evidence, witnesses, free advice on 0800 546 546 5, written claim within two months, then court if needed.