Dismissal Protection Act

The Dismissal Protection Act protects employees from dismissal with notice. Ordinary dismissal is only effective if it is based on operational, personal or behavioral grounds.

Dismissal Protection Act: Reasons

As described above, the law can be attributed to 3 different reasons. These 3 reasons can be the following:

A company can dismiss a team member for operational reasons if it has massive financial difficulties.

Personal means related to the individual employee. These are usually dismissals due to illness.

Conduct-related refers to the employee’s behavior. Dismissal is possible if the employee has committed theft or consumed alcohol/drugs during working hours.

To whom does the Dismissal Protection Act apply

The Dismissal Protection Act, also known as the KschG, applies to all employees of a company. The exception here are freelancers who work independently for the company.

According to the law, however, it only applies to companies with more than 10 employees. In this case, an employer can only terminate an employment relationship if there is a reason for doing so.

Important: The termination is automatically approved in return for payment of a severance payment.

Certain employees have special protection against dismissal

There is special protection against dismissal for a few groups of employees. These include, for example, pregnant women and the severely disabled.

The action for unfair dismissal

If an employee wishes to have the validity of their dismissal reviewed in court, they can file an action for protection against dismissal within 3 weeks of receiving the written notice of dismissal. However, if this deadline is missed, the dismissal is deemed to be legally effective.