The contents of this article have been prepared to the best of our knowledge but do not replace individual legal advice. No liability is assumed for the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the information. For an assessment of your specific situation, please contact our law firm directly.
When you receive a notice of termination in Germany – or when you are considering handing in your own resignation – one of the first questions you will ask is: how long do I still have to work? The answer depends on the statutory notice period (gesetzliche Kündigungsfrist) under German law. If you are an expat, an international professional, or a company operating in Germany, understanding this rule is essential. As lawyers for employment law in Frankfurt, we advise employees and employers on termination matters on a daily basis and want to give you a clear and practical overview of what German law provides.
A notice period is the time that must pass between the receipt of a written notice of termination and the actual end of the employment relationship. During this period, both sides remain bound by their contractual obligations – the employee continues to work (or is released from work with pay), and the employer continues to pay the salary.
The statutory framework is found in § 622 of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB). This provision sets out the minimum notice periods that apply whenever the employment contract, a collective agreement, or a company agreement does not provide for a specific arrangement – and, in some cases, even when it does.
Pursuant to § 622 Abs. 1 BGB, the basic notice period is four weeks, terminating either on the 15th of a calendar month or on the last day of a calendar month. This rule applies equally to employees and employers during the standard phase of an employment relationship (i.e., after the probationary period has ended).
A common source of confusion: four weeks is not the same as one month. Four weeks means exactly 28 days, which can lead to the termination date falling before or after the end of a calendar month. Because the law specifies that termination must occur on either the 15th or the end of the month, you will need to identify which of those two dates comes next after your four-week period has expired.
Example: If an employee receives a resignation letter on 1 April, four weeks later is 29 April. Since 29 April is neither the 15th nor the last day of the month, the employment would end on 30 April (the next qualifying date).
Here is where German law makes a significant distinction between employees and employers. While employees always retain the basic four-week notice period regardless of how long they have been with the company, employers must observe progressively longer notice periods once the employment relationship has lasted two or more years.
According to § 622 Abs. 2 BGB, the employer’s notice period is:
Note that all extended employer notice periods run only to the end of a calendar month, not to the 15th. This is an important detail when calculating the exact termination date.
One further nuance worth noting: § 622 Abs. 2 Satz 2 BGB originally provided that periods of employment completed before the employee’s 25th birthday should not be counted towards the length-of-service threshold. However, this age-related restriction was declared incompatible with EU law by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht). It is no longer applied. All periods of employment – regardless of the employee’s age at the time – are counted in full when calculating the applicable notice period.
If the parties have agreed on a probationary period (Probezeit), § 622 Abs. 3 BGB provides for a significantly shortened notice period of two weeks, with no requirement for the termination to fall on the 15th or the last day of the month. The probationary period may last a maximum of six months. Any agreed probationary period beyond this duration does not extend the shortened notice right.
If the employment relationship continues beyond six months – even if the contract provides for a longer probationary period – the standard notice period rules under § 622 Abs. 1 and 2 BGB automatically apply.
German law allows for both upward and downward deviations from the statutory baseline, but with strict limits.
Collective agreements (Tarifverträge): Under § 622 Abs. 4 BGB, collective agreements may deviate from the statutory notice periods – both in favour of and to the detriment of employees. This means that a collective agreement could, in principle, provide for shorter notice periods than the four-week baseline. If such a collective agreement applies to your employment, it will generally take precedence over the statutory rule.
Individual employment contracts: As a general rule, individual contracts may only provide for notice periods that are at least as long as the statutory minimum. The only exception under § 622 Abs. 5 BGB applies to temporary staff and to employers with 20 or fewer employees, where a shorter notice period of at least four weeks may be agreed in writing. In all other cases, any contractual notice period that falls below the statutory minimum is void, and the statutory period applies instead.
One important asymmetry: § 622 Abs. 6 BGB prohibits the parties from agreeing on a longer notice period for the employee than for the employer. If such a provision is found in an employment contract, it is invalid – the employee may invoke the employer’s (shorter) notice period instead.
The notice period begins on the day the notice of termination is received by the other party – not on the day it is signed or sent. Under § 623 BGB, a notice of termination must be in writing (i.e., signed with a wet ink signature); electronic notices by e-mail or text message are legally ineffective and do not trigger the notice period at all.
This has practical consequences: if you hand in your resignation on a Friday afternoon and your employer only receives it on the following Monday morning, the notice period starts running on Monday. Getting the receipt date right is critical – especially when calculating whether a termination notice was served in time to hit a particular month-end date.
If an employer terminates an employment relationship without observing the correct statutory notice period, the employee may claim remuneration for the full duration of the notice period that should have been observed, based on the rules governing the employer’s default of acceptance (Annahmeverzug, § 615 BGB). In practice, employees can bring a claim before the Labour Court (Arbeitsgericht) for the wages that should have been paid during the violated notice period.
If you have received a termination notice and believe the notice period has not been properly calculated, it is important to act quickly. Employment law in Germany provides strict procedural deadlines – for example, a claim against an unfair dismissal (Kündigungsschutzklage) must be filed within three weeks of receiving the termination notice.
If you have received a termination notice – or if you are an employer about to issue one – the stakes are high. German employment law is complex, and small procedural errors can have significant financial consequences. We recommend seeking legal advice as quickly as possible, especially given the three-week deadline for challenging a dismissal.
Our team at Manz Rechtsanwälte has been advising employees and employers in termination matters since 1997, with a particular focus on navigating difficult situations with clarity and results. We offer consultations in German, English, and Turkish – including by video call.
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