Termination and resignation

If your employer terminates your employment

When an employer terminates an employee’s employment relationship, they inform the employee that their work will cease completely. In other words, the employer terminates the employment contract entered into by the employee and the employer. An employer may terminate a permanent employment contract, but not a fixed-term employment contract, unless this has been specifically agreed in the employment contract.

An employer may only dismiss an employee if they have a valid reason for doing so. An employer must always justify or explain the reason for dismissal to an employee.

Termination may be due to financial or production-related reasons, including:

• there being insufficient demand for the company’s products and services, or
• the company being in a poor financial situation.

In certain situations, an employer may also dismiss an employee for reasons attributable to the employee or related to the employee personally. Such reasons could be, for example, constantly being late to work or performing work poorly. Before dismissal, the employer must give the employee a warning and the opportunity to correct their behaviour.

The reason for a dismissal cannot be the employee’s

• pregnancy or family leave
• illness, injury or accident, unless the employee’s ability to work has been reduced materially and for a long term because of these
• participating in industrial action
• political, religious or other opinion or social activity
• resorting to legal remedies.

You can ask the employer to notify you in writing of the employment contract’s end date and the reasons for the termination. The employer must then provide them to you as soon as possible.

If your employer has given you a notice of termination, your work will not end immediately, but will continue for the notice period. If you have been dismissed for productivity or financial reasons, i.e., because the company’s products and services are not in sufficient demand or its financial situation is poor, you are entitled to paid leave to look for work or prepare an employment plan. The free time is 5-20 days, depending on the length of the notice period. Notify the employer of the free time as soon as you can.

If you have worked for the same employer for at least 5 years and the employer has at least 30 employees, you are entitled to employment-promoting training and occupational health services paid by the employer for 6 months from the beginning of unemployment.

If you do not agree with your employer regarding your dismissal, contact your workplace’s shop steward or union representative or your trade union. You can also contact SAK’s employment counselling.

Rehiring obligation

If your employer has dismissed you for financial or production-related reasons (such as insufficient demand for the company’s products or services or its poor financial situation) they may be obliged to offer you work again later. This obligation, referred to as a “rehiring obligation”, is in force for 4 months from dismissal, if the employer needs an employee for the same or similar tasks as those performed by the employee before dismissal. If the employee’s employment has continued without interruption for at least 12 years until the dismissal, the rehiring obligation lasts for 6 months after dismissal.

If you want to resign from your job

An employee can terminate their employment relationship by notifying their employer. Keep in mind that if you resign from your job for no valid reason, you will be placed on a 45-day waiting period, during which you will not receive unemployment benefits. The waiting period is 30 days if the job you resigned from would have lasted no more than 5 days.

If you want to terminate your permanent employment relationship, you must terminate your indefinite or continuous employment contract. Deliver a written notice of resignation to your employer personally. If this is not possible, submit your resignation to your employer by post or electronically.

You do not have to explain the reason for your resignation.

Once you have submitted your resignation, you cannot stop work immediately. Instead, your work will continue during the notice period.

Periods of notice

The notice period starts after the employee or employer has terminated the employment contract. The law stipulates how long the notice period is. In some situations, periods of notice can also be agreed upon in a collective agreement or an employment contract.

Your employment will only end after the period of notice. During the period of notice, you work normally and receive a regular salary for that time.

Statutory notice periods

When the employer dismisses the employee, the notice period is:

• 14 days if employment has lasted for less than or exactly one year
• 1 month if employment has lasted for 1–4 years
• 2 months if employment has lasted for 4–8 years
• 4 months if employment has lasted for 8–12 years
• 6 months if employment has lasted for more than 12 years.

When an employee terminates the employment contract, the notice period is:

• 14 days if employment has continued for less than or exactly 5 years
• 1 month if employment has continued for more than 5 years.