If employees lose their job, they can often negotiate severance pay. But if you want to leave the separation with a financial cushion, you have to hurry.
Downsizing, job cuts, restructuring – when employers separate from an employee, it usually comes as a shock to those affected. Then it’s good if the company at least offers a severance payment as a farewell. However, the employer usually does not do this completely voluntarily. Legal advice can help. This is where online legal service providers come in.
Employees are not generally entitled to compensation if they lose their job. However, companies often agree to a severance payment in order to avoid a lengthy process before the labor court. The law only indicates the possibility of a severance payment in one place, “namely when the employee waives a claim for protection against dismissal.” However, financial compensation remains voluntary and the amount is always a matter of negotiation. But this also applies to the employee.
Amount of compensation freely negotiable
There is a rule of thumb when it comes to the amount of the severance payment: . It strengthens your own position if you have performed well at work over the years or have acquired knowledge and insights into the company that could also be in demand by the competition. And: The employer is usually willing to spend more money on compensation if, for example, the termination will probably not stand up in court due to formal errors, but he still wants to break away from the employee.
Even employees who have been loyal to their company for a long time can sometimes get more out of it. The Dismissal Protection Act, for example, provides for up to 15 months’ salary as severance pay if terminated employees are over 50 years old and have at least 15 years of service.
Regardless of whether you are a normal employee or a manager, lawyer and entrepreneur Fabian Beulke advises against going it alone in severance negotiations: “If you are represented by a lawyer, you have a good chance of negotiating an appropriate severance payment,” he says in an interview with Capital.
Three-week filing period
Employees should seek legal advice as soon as the termination notice lands on their table. The period in which a claim for protection against dismissal can be filed is short: after receiving the notice of termination, there are only three weeks left. Employees must take action during this time. Either they agree on a severance payment with the employer and in return they waive the right to go to the labor court. Or they first sue and then negotiate with the employer whether they will withdraw the dismissal protection claim. The financial compensation payment would therefore be a kind of consideration.
“With a severance payment, the employer frees itself from the risk of having to argue about the termination in court,” explains Beulke. However, if the terminated person allows the three-week filing period to pass without taking action, the termination is considered effective. “No matter how blatantly unfair the job loss may have been, nothing can be done.”
Quick help with Legal Techs
But for some, the shock of losing their job and worries about legal fees prevent them from taking action in time. If you want to quickly assess your own chances of success, but don’t have a trusted law firm at hand and are afraid of costs, you will find what you are looking for on the Internet. Various legal service providers and law firms offer advice online for those who have been terminated and employees who have received an offer to terminate their contract. They examine terminations and have the case assessed by employment law professionals – often free of charge.
Things are similar at Fabian Beulke’s legal tech company Clever Klagen. “We refer people who have problems with their employer to competent experts in labor law,” he says. Employees can use the website to have their case reviewed and arrange a non-binding telephone consultation with a lawyer. If the chances are good, customers will receive an offer as to what conditions the lawyer will work on.
If an order is placed, either the legal protection insurance covers the costs or Legal-Tech assumes the entire risk of the legal dispute. “If our lawyers can successfully negotiate a settlement, we receive a share of the result,” explains Beulke. If, contrary to expectations, the case turns out to be disadvantageous for the employee, everything remains free of charge. “Not having legal protection insurance shouldn’t stop anyone from defending themselves against termination in a timely manner.”
Source: Stern
