Deadlines and first steps after the dismissal
For both deadlines what counts is receipt by the employee, not the date on the letterhead.
Immediately: sign nothing
Check whether the letter bears the handwritten signature of the employer or of an authorised representative. Under § 623 BGB a dismissal requires written form; electronic form is excluded. Email, text message and verbal statements do not meet this requirement.
Termination agreements, settlement receipts and release agreements should only be signed after a lawyer has reviewed them.
Three days: registering with the employment agency
If less than three months lie between learning the end date of the employment relationship and the actual end, you must register as seeking work within three days of gaining that knowledge (§ 38 para. 1 sentence 2 SGB III). The law counts calendar days.
Where the notice period is longer, registration remains due at the latest three months before the end of the employment relationship (§ 38 para. 1 sentence 1 SGB III). Anyone who misses this receives a one-week suspension of unemployment benefit (§ 159 para. 1 no. 9, para. 6 SGB III). This registration has no bearing on the unfair dismissal claim.
Three weeks: filing an unfair dismissal claim
Anyone who considers a dismissal socially unjustified or invalid for other reasons must file a claim with the labour court within three weeks of receiving the written dismissal (§ 4 sentence 1 KSchG).
The deadline covers every ground of invalidity, including a formal defect under § 623 BGB and a missing works council hearing; for a summary dismissal it applies equally via § 13 para. 1 sentence 2 KSchG.
If the deadline expires, the dismissal is deemed valid from the outset under § 7 KSchG. A defect in the dismissal letter then no longer matters. For Augsburg the competent court is Augsburg Labour Court, Frohsinnstraße 2.
Deadline calculator
Is your filing deadline still running?
When did you receive your notice of termination? You only have 3 weeks from the day it reached you. The calculator shows the date by which your claim must arrive at the labour court.
The calculator is for orientation only and does not replace legal advice. If the deadline falls on a weekend or a public holiday, it moves to the next working day.
Grounds on which a dismissal is invalid
An effective dismissal must meet several requirements: written form, the signatory’s authority to represent the employer, the works council hearing and, within the scope of the Dismissal Protection Act, social justification. Any one of these points can on its own render the dismissal invalid.
Scope of the Dismissal Protection Act
Protection under the KSchG requires the employment relationship to have existed at the same business or company without interruption for longer than six months (§ 1 para. 1 KSchG). The size of the business is added to that.
For employment relationships that began after 31 December 2003, Part One of the KSchG only applies above ten employees; for relationships established earlier the threshold of five continues to apply (§ 23 para. 1 KSchG). Part-time staff count proportionally: up to 20 weekly hours count as 0.5, up to 30 weekly hours as 0.75 (§ 23 para. 1 sentence 4 KSchG).
Formal defects
The written form required by § 623 BGB refers to § 126 para. 1 BGB. The document must be signed by hand by the issuer with their own name; a facsimile, a scanned signature or a stamp does not meet this requirement.
If an authorised representative gives the dismissal without presenting a power of attorney, you can reject the letter without delay under § 174 BGB. This does not apply if the employer had already informed you of the authorisation beforehand.
Missing social justification
Where the KSchG applies, the employer needs an operational, personal or conduct-related ground. For an operational dismissal the employer must additionally carry out a proper social selection, giving sufficient weight to length of service, age, maintenance obligations and severe disability (§ 1 para. 3 KSchG).
A summary dismissal requires an important reason under § 626 para. 1 BGB. It can only be declared within two weeks of gaining knowledge of the facts relevant to the dismissal (§ 626 para. 2 BGB).
Special dismissal protection
Certain groups are protected regardless of the size of the business. During pregnancy and until the end of the protection period following the birth, dismissal is not permitted under § 17 MuSchG. During parental leave, § 18 BEEG applies.
The dismissal of a severely disabled person requires the prior consent of the integration office (§ 168 SGB IX). Works council members cannot be given ordinary notice by the employer under § 15 para. 1 KSchG.
Protection outside the Dismissal Protection Act
Even without the KSchG, a dismissal must not breach good faith (§ 242 BGB) and must not be immoral (§ 138 para. 1 BGB). Discrimination on a ground listed in § 1 AGG is prohibited by § 7 para. 1 AGG. The notice period under § 622 BGB applies in every case, unless a collective agreement or the employment contract provides for a longer period.
Works council consultation
Where a works council exists, it must be heard before every dismissal. A dismissal given without this hearing is invalid under § 102 para. 1 BetrVG, regardless of whether a ground for dismissal existed. This defect too must be asserted before the labour court within three weeks under § 4 sentence 1 KSchG.
Unfair dismissal claim: procedure and costs
With the unfair dismissal claim the employee has the labour court establish that the employment relationship was not ended by the dismissal (§ 4 sentence 1 KSchG). The procedure runs over two hearings: the conciliation hearing and the chamber hearing.
Course of proceedings before the labour court
The conciliation hearing should take place within two weeks of the claim being filed (§ 61a para. 2 ArbGG). No legal consequence attaches to exceeding this target deadline. At this hearing the court attempts to reach an amicable settlement between the parties.
If no agreement is reached, the chamber hearing follows. The chamber decides with a presiding judge and one lay judge each from the circles of employees and employers (§ 16 para. 2 ArbGG). An appeal against the judgment lies to the regional labour court (§ 64 para. 1 ArbGG); for Augsburg the competent court is the Regional Labour Court in Munich.
Costs of an unfair dismissal claim
In first-instance judgment proceedings there is no entitlement to reimbursement of the costs of a legal representative (§ 12a para. 1 sentence 1 ArbGG). Each party bears its own lawyer’s fees. This applies even if that party wins the case.
The value in dispute reaches at most a quarter-year’s earnings, that is three months’ gross salary; severance pay is not added to it (§ 42 para. 2 sentence 1 GKG). At €3,500 gross this gives €10,500.
For this value bracket the table in Annex 2 to § 13 para. 1 RVG shows a 1.0 fee of €707. The procedural fee (1.3) and the hearing fee (1.2) together come to €1,767.50; with the expenses lump sum and VAT, your own lawyer’s fees in first instance come to around €2,127.
Whether legal expenses insurance covers these costs depends on the agreed terms and any excess. For legal aid, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) apply in labour court proceedings (§ 11a para. 1 ArbGG).
Severance pay after a dismissal
German employment law does not provide for a general statutory entitlement to severance pay. Claims arise only in the cases regulated by law, for example under the employer’s offer pursuant to § 1a KSchG or through a social plan under § 112 BetrVG. Beyond that, severance is a matter of negotiation.
When severance pay is made
If the employer dismisses for urgent operational requirements and refers to § 1a KSchG in the dismissal letter, an entitlement to severance pay arises as soon as the employee lets the filing deadline pass. The amount then comes to 0.5 months’ earnings for each year the employment relationship existed (§ 1a para. 2 KSchG).
A social plan under § 112 BetrVG offsets the economic disadvantages that arise for employees as a result of a planned change to the business, and can contain severance arrangements. Before the labour court, proceedings can end in a settlement in which the parties agree on severance pay. They negotiate the amount themselves.
Amount of severance pay
Only one figure is set out in the law. § 1a para. 2 KSchG names 0.5 months’ earnings per year of service, and this applies solely to the employer’s severance offer under that provision. For settlements in unfair dismissal proceedings there is no statutory formula for calculation.
In negotiating practice a range of 0.5 to 1.0 gross monthly salaries per year of service serves as a guide. It rests on established practice, not on a legal rule. How much is achievable depends on how well founded the employer’s grounds for dismissal are.
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