Termination and notice in Germany

At a glance

Key figures with the official source for each, checked November 2026.

Probation period and the six-month waiting period

Two different six-month rules apply at the start of employment, and foreign employers often merge them.

• Probation (Probezeit). If the contract agrees a probation period, either side can end the employment with two weeks' notice during it. The short notice is available for a probation period of up to six months (§ 622 BGB). Without a probation clause, the four-week basic notice applies from day one.
• Waiting period (Wartezeit). The Kündigungsschutzgesetz only protects employees whose employment has lasted more than six months. This applies by law, whether or not the contract mentions probation.

During the first six months the employer does not need a statutory ground. Other rules still apply. Notice must be in writing with an original signature. A works council, where one exists, must be heard first. Pregnant employees are protected from the first day. The dismissal must not be discriminatory.

The date that counts is the day the employee receives the notice. A notice delivered on the last day of the sixth month still falls inside the waiting period, even though the employment ends later.

Statutory notice periods by length of service

§ 622 BGB sets minimum notice. The employee can always resign with four weeks' notice to the 15th or the end of a month unless the contract says otherwise. The employer's notice grows with service in the establishment or company and always ends at the end of a calendar month.

Contracts often extend notice, for example to three months to the end of a quarter for senior staff. The notice an employee must give can never be longer than the notice the employer must give. Collective agreements may set different periods. Employers with no more than 20 employees may agree a four-week period without the fixed end dates.

Lawful grounds for dismissal under the Kündigungsschutzgesetz

Once the Act applies, an ordinary dismissal is only valid if it is socially justified. The Act recognises three grounds, and the employer carries the burden of proof.

• Reasons in the person. The employee can no longer do the job, for example because of long-term illness.
• Reasons in conduct. Breach of contract by the employee. Labour courts generally expect a prior formal warning for the same kind of breach before a conduct dismissal.
• Urgent operational requirements. The job is lost and the employee cannot be kept on elsewhere in the establishment or company.

For operational dismissals the employer must also run a social selection among comparable employees. The four statutory criteria are length of service, age, maintenance obligations and severe disability. Employees whose skills the business needs can be left out of the comparison.

Establishments with 10 or fewer employees fall outside the general protection. Part-time staff count as 0.5 up to 20 weekly hours and 0.75 up to 30 hours. Poor performance alone, a change of strategy at head office, or the end of a client project does not automatically meet any of the three grounds.

Required procedure, step by step

A dismissal with a valid reason can still fail on procedure. The usual sequence is as follows.

• Check special protection. Pregnancy, parental leave and severe disability each require prior approval from a public authority.
• Hear the works council. Under § 102 BetrVG the council must be told the reasons before every dismissal. It has one week to respond to an ordinary notice and three days for a dismissal without notice. A dismissal issued without the hearing is void.
• Issue written notice. § 623 BGB requires written form and excludes electronic form. In practice this means a paper letter with an original signature from a person authorised to dismiss.
• Prove delivery. Notice periods and the three-week claim period run from receipt, so employers use hand delivery with a witness or a courier.
• Act in time for serious misconduct. A dismissal without notice under § 626 BGB must be declared within two weeks of the employer learning the decisive facts.

If the employee does not file a claim with the labour court within three weeks, the dismissal is treated as valid from the start (§ 7 KSchG).

Severance and what an exit really costs

German law has no general right to severance on dismissal. Three statutory routes exist.

• § 1a KSchG. In an operational dismissal the employer may state in the notice letter that the employee can claim severance if no lawsuit is filed. The amount is then fixed at 0.5 monthly earnings per year of service, with periods over six months rounded up to a full year.
• §§ 9 and 10 KSchG. If a court finds the dismissal invalid but continued employment is unreasonable, it can dissolve the contract and order severance of up to 12 monthly earnings, or up to 15 or 18 for older, long-serving employees.
• Social plans. In larger restructurings a works council can negotiate a social plan with severance formulas.

In all other cases severance is a negotiated price for certainty. If the employer loses in court, the employment continues and back pay is owed for the whole period of the dispute. That risk drives settlements, and the 0.5 monthly earnings per year formula is the common starting point.

In first-instance labour court proceedings each side pays its own lawyer, whoever wins (§ 12a Arbeitsgerichtsgesetz).

Protected categories and mass dismissals

Some employees can only be dismissed with prior approval from an authority.

• Pregnancy and maternity. Dismissal is prohibited during pregnancy and until at least four months after birth, and for four months after a miscarriage after the 12th week. The ban applies if the employer knew of the pregnancy or is told within two weeks of the notice (§ 17 Mutterschutzgesetz).
• Parental leave. Protection starts when leave is requested, at the earliest 8 weeks before it begins, or 14 weeks for leave after the child's third birthday (§ 18 BEEG).
• Severe disability. The Integrationsamt must approve first. This applies once the employment has lasted more than six months (§§ 168, 173 SGB IX).
• Works council members. They can only be dismissed for good cause with council consent, and protection continues for one year after the term ends (§ 15 KSchG).

Mass dismissals within 30 calendar days must be notified to the Employment Agency in advance. The thresholds are more than 5 dismissals in establishments with 21 to 59 employees, 10% or more than 25 dismissals in establishments with 60 to 499, and at least 30 in establishments with 500 or more (§ 17 KSchG). Notified dismissals take effect one month after the notification at the earliest, unless the agency agrees to an earlier date.

Mutual termination agreements and common mistakes

A mutual termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag) ends employment by consent on an agreed date. It needs no statutory ground and no works council hearing. Like a dismissal, it must be on paper with original signatures from both sides, because § 623 BGB covers both.

The employee carries a cost that affects negotiations. An employee who agrees to end the job can face a 12-week suspension of unemployment benefit under § 159 SGB III. For that reason employees often prefer a dismissal followed by a court settlement.

Mistakes that foreign employers make most often:

• Sending notice by email, PDF or e-signature platform.
• Treating the probation period as at-will and skipping the works council.
• Missing the two-week window for dismissal without notice while head office investigates.
• Dismissing for performance without earlier written warnings.
• Assuming that the end of a project or a head office decision is in itself a ground for dismissal.

Under an EOR structure the EOR entity is the legal employer and is the party that signs and delivers the notice or agreement. The end of the client's assignment does not by itself end the employment contract.

Frequently asked questions

More on hiring in Germany

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Sources

• Kündigungsschutzgesetz (Dismissal Protection Act)
• Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch § 622, notice periods
• Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch § 623, written form
• Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch § 626, dismissal for good cause
• Betriebsverfassungsgesetz § 102, works council hearing
• Mutterschutzgesetz § 17, dismissal ban
• Sozialgesetzbuch IX § 168, approval for severely disabled employees
• Sozialgesetzbuch III § 159, benefit suspension

This page is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Rates, thresholds and procedures change, and how they apply depends on the facts. Confirm current figures with a qualified adviser or with Dryft before acting. Checked November 2026.