oral notice period for termination
November 22, 2010 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Dr. Danjel-Philippe Newerla
Hello,
I have been employed at a company for 11 years now, and I plan to resign at the end of the month. However, I do not have an employment contract. I have heard that in this case, the statutory notice period of 4 weeks applies. However, my boss told me 2 years ago that if I ever resign, I should give notice six months in advance. Does such a verbal agreement hold any validity, or is it not effective?
I would appreciate a quick response to my question.
Dear advice-seeker,
Thank you for your inquiry. I would like to answer it as follows:
Your legal opinion is completely correct. Since you do not have a contractual agreement, the law is applicable to you.
According to § 622 para. 1 BGB, the employment relationship of a worker or an employee can be terminated with a notice period of four weeks to the fifteenth or the end of a calendar month.
Even if you had a different contractual agreement, which I cannot see here, stating that you would have a notice period of six months, this would represent an unreasonable deviation from the legal provision and would therefore be ineffective and therefore irrelevant.
§ 622 BGB Notice periods in employment relationships
(1) The employment relationship of a worker or an employee can be terminated with a notice period of four weeks to the fifteenth or the end of a calendar month.
(2) For termination by the employer, the notice period is as follows if the employment relationship has existed in the company or business
1.
for two years, one month at the end of a calendar month,
2.
for five years, two months at the end of a calendar month,
3.
for eight years, three months at the end of a calendar month,
4.
for ten years, four months at the end of a calendar month,
5.
for twelve years, five months at the end of a calendar month,
6.
for fifteen years, six months at the end of a calendar month,
7.
for twenty years, seven months at the end of a calendar month.
When calculating the length of employment, times that occur before the employee's 25th birthday are not taken into account.
(3) During an agreed probationary period, lasting up to six months, the employment relationship can be terminated with a notice period of two weeks.
(4) Deviating regulations from paragraphs 1 to 3 can be agreed upon by collective agreement. In the scope of such a collective agreement, the differing provisions of the collective agreement apply between non-unionized employers and employees if their application is agreed upon between them.
(5) A shorter notice period than that mentioned in paragraph 1 can only be agreed upon individually,
1.
if an employee is hired as a temporary assistant; this does not apply if the employment relationship continues beyond three months;
2.
if the employer usually employs no more than 20 employees, excluding those employed exclusively for vocational training, and the notice period does not fall below four weeks.
When determining the number of employed employees, part-time employees with a regular weekly working time of no more than 20 hours are to be taken into account with 0.5 and with no more than 30 hours with 0.75. The individually agreed longer notice periods than those mentioned in paragraphs 1 to 3 remain unaffected.
(6) For the termination of the employment relationship by the employee, no longer notice period may be agreed upon than for termination by the employer.
I hope this provides you with a first legal orientation and wish you much success and all the best!
I would like to point out the following to you:
The legal advice I have provided is based solely on the facts you have provided. My answer is only an initial legal assessment of the situation, which cannot replace a comprehensive evaluation of the facts. Adding or omitting relevant information can result in a completely different legal assessment.
I hope my explanations have been helpful to you. You are welcome to contact me via my email address or the follow-up option.
I wish you a pleasant Monday afternoon!
Kind regards from the North Sea coast
Dipl.-Jur. Danjel-Philippe Newerla, Attorney
Stresemannstr. 46
27570 Bremerhaven
kanzlei.newerla@web.de
Fax.0471/140244
