German Notice Period Calculator

How this is worked out

German notice periods come from §622 BGB, and the single most useful thing to know is that they are not symmetrical.

The basic period, for both sides: four weeks, ending either on the 15th of a month or on the last day of a month. Not "four weeks from today" — four weeks and then the next such date. Resign on 20 March and your last day is 30 April, not 17 April.

The employer's notice grows with your service, yours does not:

Completed years	Employer must give
under 2	4 weeks
2	1 month
5	2 months
8	3 months
10	4 months
12	5 months
15	6 months
20	7 months

All of these end at month-end only, not the 15th.

An employee resigning keeps the four-week period however long they have been there — unless the contract says otherwise. Which brings us to the point that matters most in practice.

Your contract usually overrides this. Employment contracts routinely agree longer periods, and collective agreements very often do. §622(6) sets the one hard limit: your notice can never be longer than your employer's. Read your contract before you rely on the statutory figure.

During Probezeit — maximum six months — it is two weeks, ending on any day.

A worked example

You have worked somewhere three and a half years and want to leave.

• Your notice: 4 weeks, to the 15th or the end of a month
• Resign on 5 October → last day 15 November
• Resign on 20 October → last day 30 November

If instead your employer dismisses you at the same three and a half years:

• Their notice: 1 month, month-end only
• Notice on 5 October → last day 30 November

Now the same employee at eleven years. Yours is still four weeks. Theirs is four months. That asymmetry is deliberate — the law protects long service against sudden dismissal while leaving employees free to move.

What this doesn't cover

• This is the statutory minimum. Your contract or Tarifvertrag very likely says something different, and longer periods are common — three or six months for senior roles. The contract wins, subject to §622(6).
• Employers with 20 or fewer staff (apprentices excluded) may agree shorter periods in some circumstances.
• Notice must be in writing, on paper, with an original signature. Email and WhatsApp are not valid under §623 BGB. This catches people out.
• Summary dismissal for serious cause (fristlose Kündigung, §626 BGB) has no notice period and is not covered here.
• The old rule ignoring service before age 25 is not applied — the European Court of Justice ruled it unlawful age discrimination.
• This is general information about the statute, not legal advice on your situation. For an actual dismissal, talk to a lawyer or your works council quickly — the deadline to challenge one is three weeks.

Common questions