Employment contract: Is termination by e-mail allowed?
Created: 03/24/2022, 09:36
By: Andrea Stettner
Strict rules apply to the termination of employment contracts – also with regard to the form.
Is a termination by e-mail permissible?
Layoffs* are one of those things in working life where no one can afford to be sloppy.
The legislator provides strict guidelines for this, be it for the time of termination or the form.
But especially with the latter, many feel insecure: Do I have to send the notice of termination as a letter – or is an e-mail sufficient?
Cancellations must be made in writing - e-mail is not one of them
The German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) has clearly defined this case.
According to Section 623 of the German Civil Code,
termination of the employment contract must always be in writing;
electronic
form is excluded
.
So that means: layoffs, the
by e-mail, fax, e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp or similar are invalid.
Verbal termination is also not legally permitted.
Incidentally, this applies to both employers and employees.
The written form requirement cannot be waived by regulations in the employment contract.
The same applies to so-called "turbo" or "sprinter clauses" in termination agreements.
Also read:
Termination: Your employer can fire you for these reasons.
Cancellation is only valid with a handwritten signature
Employment contracts must always be terminated in writing.
But does that include email?
© Sven Simon/Imago
But be careful: Even if the written form is observed when giving notice of termination, this is only effective if the letter of termination is also
signed
by hand (§ 126 Para. 1 BGB).
Although a "notarized hand sign" is legally permitted instead of a signature, this should hardly play a role in practice.
By the way, the signature on the document does not have to be legible.
However, according to legal experts, abbreviations or initials
(the so-called “initialling”) are not sufficient.
Also interesting:
Termination: You should consider this if you change jobs voluntarily.
What happens if the written form is missing?
Good to know: If a
notice of termination is received by e-mail
or another form that is not permitted, employees can still challenge the notice of termination in court after the three-week notice period according to § 4 sentence 1 KSchG.
(as) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
.
More on the topic:
Writing a notice of termination: How do I terminate my employment contract?
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Source: BGB, Haufe.de
Termination of the employment contract: the most important facts that everyone should know
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