What Your First German Pay Group Really Means
Entgeltgruppe Ä1 is the starting pay group for junior doctors in German hospitals. Here is what it controls, what it does not, and the phrase to check before you sign.
Ahmed Quteishat
Assistenzarzt, Innere Medizin (Berlin) · Founder of Klaro
Entgeltgruppe Ä1 is the starting pay group for junior doctors (Assistenzärzte) in German public hospitals. It is one line in your contract, and it decides your base salary before anything else does.
What is Entgeltgruppe Ä1?
It is the first pay group in the collective pay table for doctors, called TV-Ärzte. Almost every public hospital contract for a junior doctor starts with this line.
How does your pay grow inside Ä1?
Your pay rises by step, not by effort. Each step is written into the table, and most doctors move up one step every 1 to 2 years.
Specialty does not change your step. A surgeon and a GP on the same step, in the same hospital, earn the same base pay.
What does Ä1 not include?
Night and weekend duty, called Bereitschaftsdienst, is paid as a separate line. It is not folded into your base pay.
On-call pay and overtime also show up as separate rows on your payslip. In your first year, these rows can add a large amount on top of your base.
When does your pay actually jump?
The jump comes when you pass your specialist exam (Facharztprüfung), not after a fixed number of years in Ä1. Once you pass it, your contract moves to the next pay group, Ä2, and your base pay rises with it.
What phrase should you check in your contract?
Look for a sentence that says the hospital only follows the public pay table loosely, not exactly. That one sentence lets a hospital pay you less than Ä1, even if Ä1 is printed above it.
Church-run hospitals and some private clinics use this sentence often. Public city hospitals (Kommunale Kliniken) usually do not need it, because they are bound to the table directly.
What to do before you sign
- Find the word Entgeltgruppe in your contract. It should say Ä1, not a private scale.
- Ask HR in writing which Stufe (step) you start on, and whether your years abroad count toward it.
- Check that night and weekend duty appears as its own line, separate from your base pay.
- Read the sentence around the pay table carefully. If it says the hospital only follows it loosely, ask what that means in euros.
Stand: 2026-10-22. This is a guide, not legal advice. Every German state has its own rules, and rules change. Check with your state's [medical chamber (Landesärztekammer)](https://www.bundesaerztekammer.de/aerztekammern) before you act.
Ahmed Quteishat — Assistenzarzt, Innere Medizin (Berlin) · Founder of Klaro
Ahmed built Klaro after watching how much of a doctor's move to Germany gets lost in paperwork rather than medicine.
