Lawyer for termination in the corona crisis

The Protection against Dismissal Act is still valid and was not stopped during the coronavirus crisis. Employees in companies with more than 10 employees continue to be protected after the probationary period.

Accordingly, even in times of Corona, a dismissal must be socially justified in accordance with Section 1 (2) KSchG. This includes behavioral, personal and operational reasons for dismissal. The prescribed formalities (form and notice period) must still be observed.

Many companies want to cut jobs as much as possible during the coronavirus crisis. However, even a dismissal for operational reasons must comply with the Dismissal Protection Act in these times. There must be urgent operational requirements that prevent the continued employment of the employee. For example, an employer must reduce its workforce in the long term if a dismissal for operational reasons is to be lawful. A temporary reduction, for example to save personnel costs during the coronavirus crisis, is not sufficient.

The employer is obliged to exhaust all possibilities in order to maintain employment on a permanent basis. The employer can only lawfully justify a dismissal for operational reasons if there are no other employment opportunities in the company, the social selection allows it and the job is permanently lost.

The short-time working scheme initially saved many employment relationships. However, employers can still dismiss employees during short-time working. Dismissals due to conduct or personal reasons can always be legally issued - even during short-time working.

By registering for short-time working, the employer is signaling that it assumes there will be a temporary shortage of staff. However, if the overall circumstances of the company have changed significantly over time, compulsory redundancies can also be announced.

A collective redundancy always depends on the size of the company. If a company has 25 employees, for example, and 6 of them are dismissed, this is already a mass dismissal. Section 17 KSchG must be strictly observed here.

In the event of a collective redundancy, the employer must make a social selection. Employees are categorized into comparison groups and the individual groups must then be reduced to the same extent.

In general, social selection in the case of mass redundancies is a very complex and error-prone area, which is why dismissal protection claims are often successful.

In principle, there is no entitlement to severance pay - not even during the corona period. In the vast majority of cases, the payment of severance pay is at the discretion of the employer.

According to § 1a KSchG, however, there is an entitlement to severance pay in the event of dismissal for operational reasons. Provided that an „urgent operational requirement“ is explicitly stated as a reason in the dismissal notice and the dismissal letter is accompanied by an explicit note stating that the employer will pay a severance payment after the 3-week period for taking legal action has elapsed.

However, an experienced employment lawyer can help you negotiate a lucrative severance payment for you, even in complicated cases. Let us advise you on this.

Yes, in principle you can object to short-time working. However, this does not constitute grounds for dismissal. Any notice of termination issued as a result is invalid, as this is a reprimand. However, rejecting short-time working can result in a dismissal with notice of change.

The employer terminates the current employment relationship by giving notice of termination and offers the employee a different job under new conditions. Such a dismissal with notice of change can only be legally justified by „urgent operational reasons“.

If it is only a temporary change or a switch to short-time working, it is possible to take successful action against such a dismissal.

There are various ways in which you can react to a dismissal with notice of change. Firstly, you can accept the dismissal without accepting the new employment contract. You can also accept the dismissal and the new employment contract without reservation. However, you do not have to accept either of these. Here too, you can take legal action to protect yourself against dismissal, in which case you should also consult an experienced employment lawyer.

There is no legal entitlement for you to work from home during the coronavirus crisis. If this option is not regulated in a company agreement or collective agreement and the employer refuses home office, you must attend your place of work.

Even during the wave of COVID-19 illnesses, there is no right to stay away from work, even if colleagues have a cold. Only if the performance of work is unreasonable according to Section 275 (3) BGB, i.e. there is a significant objective risk to life and health, does this justify a refusal to perform. The coughing of colleagues is not sufficient for this.