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Unbearable colleagues, boring tasks or a measly salary: Anyone who feels uncomfortable at work and wants to change jobs usually thinks of resigning first.
When an employee simply quits, he is taking some risks.
At first glance, the better choice may be a termination agreement.
However, employees should always weigh carefully.
Such contracts are particularly tricky when employees do not yet have a new job.
Both employers and employees can draw up a termination agreement.
Just like a termination, the contract ends the existing employment relationship.
The difference: Both parties have to agree to a termination agreement, otherwise it does not apply.
A termination, however, can also be unilateral.
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Employees and employers may jointly determine the content of the contract.
In the termination agreement, you can, for example, state that the employer issues the employee a benevolent job reference or pays him a severance payment.
In addition, the parties can negotiate what happens to the employee's remaining vacation, whether the employee still receives an annual bonus and when he has to hand in company hardware such as a laptop or company cell phone.
Cancellation agreement: can he shorten the notice period?
According to the law, those who terminate must observe a period of four weeks.
This is stated in the Federal Code, Paragraph 622. Many companies are even more restrictive - the regulation that an employee can only terminate three months in advance or even only at the end of the quarter is not uncommon.
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The notice period protects both sides: the employee cannot be kicked out overnight, as is common in the USA, for example.
Everything about termination
At the same time, the employer has enough time to look for a replacement and is not left without employees.
However, this also means that if an employee has landed a new job early on, he may not be able to take up the position directly.
In this case, a termination agreement can help - because in it, the parties involved can theoretically terminate the employment relationship on the day the contract is signed.
Advantages of the termination agreement: For the employee
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In addition, a termination agreement can have a de-escalating effect compared to a termination.
Because a unilateral dismissal quickly leads to the relationship between employer and employee becoming strained and the fronts hardening - and that in turn can have a negative impact on the job reference.
Kaja Keller, specialist lawyer for labor law at Rechtsanwälte Gansel in Berlin, is also familiar with this situation.
“In an employment relationship, as in any other relationship, it is sometimes about sensitivities,” says the lawyer.
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For example, it is not uncommon for employers to have no idea that an employee is unhappy at work.
The result: the boss reacts in a snap and incorporates formulations in the job reference that are intended to show a future employer that the employee has not done a good job.
An example: The sentence “He tried to meet the requirements” instead of “He achieved outstanding work results” signals that the employer was very dissatisfied with the employee.
Cancellation agreement: this is how employees do it correctly
Attorney Keller advises employees who want to leave their company never to draw up a termination agreement in a stressful situation.
The same applies of course to employees to whom the boss proposes a termination agreement.
Because while the conditions for a termination are prescribed by law, termination agreements depend on the author - and can therefore vary extremely.
Everything for a professional restart
"If an employee is about to draw up or sign a termination agreement, he should find out exactly what the law is about or seek a lawyer," says Keller.
"The lawyer then takes a close look at the contract and checks whether the employee will face financial losses, for example."
Disadvantages of the termination agreement
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Despite some advantages, termination agreements often create pitfalls for employees.
If an employee has no prospect of a new job, a termination agreement is rarely better than a termination, warns Cornelia Oster, specialist lawyer for labor law from Wiesloch.
The reason: "Anyone who signs a termination agreement risks their entitlement to unemployment benefits," explains Oster.
"The Employment Agency sanctions termination agreements by not paying workers unemployment benefits for up to six months."
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The argument of the Employment Agency: Anyone who signs a termination agreement usually gives up their job voluntarily - almost like resigning themselves.
And if you cannot prove any valid reasons for this, you will not receive any unemployment benefit at first.
If you want to avoid this, you should seek legal assistance - especially if the employer wants to fire the employee from his company.
Severance payment agreement: When are employees entitled to it?
In principle, employees are not entitled to a severance payment - regardless of who has drawn up the termination agreement.
But because both sides have a say in a termination agreement, employees can try to knock out a handsome sum.
The chances of this are particularly good if the employer has drawn up the termination agreement because he has a great interest in the employee leaving the company.
But even if the employee has initiated the contract, he can try to get severance pay.
"However, this requires negotiating skills," says lawyer Keller.
“One argument in favor of a severance payment is, for example, that the employee has worked for a company for a long time and passes on his knowledge to his colleagues or his successor before leaving,” explains Keller.
In addition, it is often an advantage for employers when dissatisfied and unmotivated employees leave the company.
The amount of the severance payment is also a matter of negotiation.
However, there is a rule of thumb for orientation: half the gross monthly salary multiplied by the number of years the employee was in the company.
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