When 61 Is Really 43: German Court Says Numbers Need Not Be Exact in Layoff Notices
Published on 07/09/2026 at 03:23 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Germany’s Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) has ruled that minor mistakes in the paperwork required for mass layoffs do not automatically void the dismissals. The decision, handed down on 25 June 2026 (case number 6 AZR 7/26), gives employers some breathing room in a procedural area long considered unforgiving.
The case involved an insolvent key manufacturer. The company’s mass-dismissal notice filed with the Federal Employment Agency cited 61 employees slated for termination. The actual headcount was 43. The Erfurt-based judges found this discrepancy insignificant. Such errors, they reasoned, do not undermine the core purpose of the notification: to alert the employment authorities early enough so they can start job-placement efforts. As long as the essential information about a coming layoff wave is accurately transmitted, small numerical inaccuracies are tolerable.
Yet the court simultaneously drew a bright line on sequence. In a separate ruling from 1 April 2026 (case number 6 AZR 152/22), the BAG declared a dismissal invalid because the employer filed the mass-layoff notice before formally concluding the mandatory consultation procedure with the works council. The case concerned an insolvent airline that submitted its paperwork on 1 July 2020, even though the consultations did not finish until mid-July. Filing too early prevents the required statutory waiting period from starting. The temporal order of consultation and notification remains a make-or-break requirement for the validity of operational dismissals.
Beyond mass-layoff procedures, the labor courts have recently clarified several other employment-law points:
- Release clauses: On 25 March 2026 (case number 5 AZR 108/25), the BAG struck down blanket release-from-work clauses in employment contracts. Provisions that give an employer a sweeping right to put workers on garden leave after a dismissal unfairly disadvantage employees. Until the notice period expires, workers are generally entitled to actual work.
- Vacation and extraordinary dismissal: The two-week deadline for filing an extraordinary dismissal runs even when the employee is on holiday, the court ruled on 4 December 2025 (case number 2 AZR 55/25). Employers must make reasonable efforts to reach the worker – for example, via a company mobile phone – to conduct the required hearing.
- Proof of incapacity: When a sick note coincides precisely with the end of a dismissal notice period, its evidentiary value can be undermined. In a decision (case number 5 AZR 335/22), the BAG confirmed that the employee may then need to prove the illness by other means – especially if a new job starts immediately after the notice period expires.
Alongside these judicial clarifications, the German government is preparing a legislative overhaul of labor law, expected after the summer parliamentary recess. The planned changes include relaxing dismissal protection for high earners with an annual salary of €177,500 or more: they would no longer need to justify a severance request in dismissal-protection proceedings. Other proposals would require employees to submit a medical certificate from the first day of illness – abolishing the option of phone-based sick notes. In the area of fixed-term contracts, the government is considering allowing up to six short-term contracts without a specific reason within four years.
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