Quick Guide: Terminating An Employment Relationship In Germany

1. Formal Requirement: Wet ink signature

• The termination letter must be signed in wet ink, otherwise it is invalid. A copy, scan, scanned signature, electronic signature or the like are not sufficient.
• At least some of the letters of the signature must be legible. It is not sufficient to only use an abstract form such as a circle and a line, even if the signatory always signs this way.
• Tip: The termination letter should be signed in blue (not black) in order to minimize the risk that employees claim to only have received a copy.

2. Who can sign the termination letter?

• The termination letter must be signed by a person authorized to do so, e.g., the legal representative(s), Prokurist or HR Director (but not HR business partner). A person legally authorized to sign can authorize another person (e.g., the managing director of a GmbH can authorize an HR business partner), however, in this case, an original power of attorney must be handed over to the employee to be dismissed together with the termination letter, otherwise the employee can reject the notice of termination.
• Tip: When in doubt who is legally authorized to sign, check the commercial register (Handelsregister).

3. Handover/delivery of the termination letter

• The employee must receive the original (wet ink) letter. The notice period will only start once the employee has received the original letter.
• The employer should be able to prove that and when the employee has received the original letter.
• The easiest way is a personal handover. We recommend executing two original letters, handing one over to the employee and asking him/her to confirm receipt by countersigning the second one. If the employee refuses to countersign (which they are allowed to do), the person handing over the letter should note manually on the second letter when (date and time) it was handed over, by whom and in the presence of whom. It is recommended that two persons are present when the letter is handed over so that they can both serve as witnesses.
• If a personal handover is not possible, the termination letter should be delivered to the employee's home address by courier (not by mail, not even registered mail). The courier should be instructed to put the letter in the employee's mailbox if the employee does not accept the letter in person. The delivery protocol should be kept on file. The person putting the letter in the envelope should take a photo or video when putting the letter in the envelope so that it can be proven that the envelope actually contained a termination letter (and a PoA, as the case may be – see above).

4. Notice periods

• The applicable notice period must be complied with. If the notice period is not complied with, this does not render the notice invalid, however, the employment relationship will only end after the applicable notice period has expired.
• The notice periods to be observed by the employer are those under the employment agreement, or under the statutory rules of the Civil Code/BGB, whichever notice period is longer.
• The statutory minimum notice periods depend on the length of service of the employee. The "basic" statutory notice period to be observed by both the employer and the employee is four weeks to the 15^th or to the end of a calendar month. During an agreed probationary period (maximum first six months of employment), the notice period can be shortened to two weeks.

After longer periods of service, the following schedule applies according to statutory law to a notice of termination given by the employer

5. Material requirements

• Employees who have been employed for more than six months in an establishment with more than ten employees enjoy general termination protection according to the Termination Protection Act/KSchG. Their employment can only be terminated unilaterally if the termination is "socially justified" by a person- or conduct-related reason or by operational reasons (redundancy).
• In addition, certain groups of employees enjoy special termination protection, most notably:
• pregnant employees and employees who have given birth in the last four months
• employees on parental leave (including employees who have applied for such leave – certain limits apply)
• employees on care or family care leave (including employees who have applied for such leave – certain limits apply)
• severely disabled employees and employees with "equal status" (provided they have been employed for at least six months)

The employment of such employees can only be terminated once the employer has obtained the approval of the competent public authority. A notice of termination issued without such approval is invalid.

Employees can enjoy special termination protection irrespective of the number of employees in the establishment.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.