If there is a threat of redundancies in the company, some employees ask themselves anxiously: When is it my turn - and how is this decided at all? These are the most important regulations.
A difficult economic situation, site closures or the introduction of new production methods: If jobs are lost in a company - and there are no other employment opportunities for the employees in the company - redundancies are often the result. But then who has to go first?
"In the case of redundancies, the employer must make a so-called social selection," says Alexander Bredereck, a specialist lawyer for labor law. This means that the employer must first dismiss those employees who are least in need of protection. The decisive criteria for this are the length of service, age, maintenance obligations and a possible existing severe disability.
"The employer must create its own system, taking the criteria into account, according to which it selects the employees to be dismissed," says Bredereck. Whoever gets the fewest points for length of service, maintenance obligations, etc. according to this fixed system will receive the termination for operational reasons first.
However, the employer has some leeway - and may deviate from the specifications to a certain extent, according to Bredereck. "Certain employees, for example indispensable top performers", can be excluded from the social selection.
Old age does not necessarily protect employees from dismissal for operational reasons. In a recent case, the Federal Labor Court decided that the possibility of drawing an old-age pension can even have a disadvantageous effect on the employees concerned (Az.: 6 AZR 32/22).
In general, however, the more creative the employer is when making the selection in his favour, the greater his risk in court if those affected file a lawsuit, according to Bredereck. "There he has to prove why exceptions to social selection were justified in individual cases."
Good to know: A judicial review of the dismissal only takes place if the employee files an action for protection against dismissal within three weeks of receipt of the dismissal.
