| Important Notice in Case of
Dismissal
Once
a dismissal has been effected, you will be likely to miss several
applicable deadlines. For this reason, I recommend that you schedule an
appointment immediately. The following deadlines are of particular
relevance in case of dismissal:
3
weeks
The
statutory deadline to move against unfair dismissal pursuant to Section
4 sentence 1 of the German Unfair Dismissal Act is 3 weeks.
If
you fail to observe this deadline, the dismissal is deemed legally
valid from the beginning (Section 7 of the German Unfair Dismissal
Act). This deadline applies to dismissals with and without notice as
well
(Section 13 (2) sentence 2 of the German Unfair Dismissal Act).
Failure to observe this deadline means that you will not be
able
to do anything against the dismissal, as unfair as it may be.
Only in case of rare exceptions, I will be able to help you
despite of the expiration of this deadline.
2
weeks
You
were pregnant at the time of dismissal or gave birth 4 months or later
before dismissal? Your employer was not aware of this? Then
you
will need to notify the employer of your pregnancy or recent motherhood
within 2 weeks in order for the dismissal to become retroactively
invalid.
4 days In
some cases, dismissal notices are signed by people without official
signature authority on behalf the employer. If your employer
is a
company, it is not unlikely that this has happened. I will be
able to
clarify this by reviewing the respective commercial register
entry. In
this case, you are expected to refuse the acknowledgement of the
dismissal, without undue delay, for the reason that an original power
of attorney was not provided. According to case law, 4 days
will
always
suffice. As an average, one week is granted. If you waited
more
than 14
days with your refusal letter, than it is quite sure you are late. For
reasons of precaution, I recommend to observe the 4 days in each case.
3 days Upon
receipt of a dismissal notice, you will only have 3 days to register in
person as a job seeker with the competent labor agency (previously: labor office) (Section 38 (1)
sentence 2 Book III German Social Code). This applies to all scenarios
where the termination date lies earlier than 3 months in the future.
Failure to observe this deadline will result in the labor agency
applying a so-called "prohibition period in case of belated job seeker
registration" (Section 145 (1) No. 7 Book III German Social Code).
If
you speak German, I suggest that you take care of this deadline
yourself before you come to the appointment we have scheduled. You will
find the address of your competent labor agency here.
It
will suffice if you register vial telephone under ++49 (1801) 555 111
(3,9 ct from on the landline in Germany, cellular phone costs may be
different), but only if you provide your personal information and the
termination date and provided that you attend the appointment the labor
agency will schedule at a later point of time. When making use of this
possibility, please ask the clerk for his name and for the customer number they will give you.
Commencement of Deadlines:
Receipt of Dismissal Letter All
aforementioned deadlines commence with the receipt of the dismissal
letter. In order to determine the date of receipt, it is
irrelevant if you were on vacation or checked your mail several days
after insertion of the dismissal notice. As a safe approach,
I
recommend to treat the signature date as date of receipt. If the
dismissal letter arrived via mail and if you have kept the envelope, I
suggest that you assume the day after the postmark date was the date of
receipt. |