Moin Leute,
I spent the last few months doing research about quitting, layoffs and unemployment benefits for immigrants. There is a lot that immigrants should know, but don’t. Sometimes employers take advantage of that.
Let me bring you up to speed as fast as I can, and save you a bit of stress down the road.
tl;dr: You won’t get kicked out of Germany, and you might get a lot of support from the state
## Losing or quitting your job
– **All jobs have a notice period**, and it’s often longer than you think! 3 months is a pretty normal notice period for a skilled job. You can’t just hand your resignation and start somewhere else in two weeks. The good news is that your employer has the same notice period, so if you get laid off, you also get 3 months to find another job. If you are sent on garden leave, that’s a pretty sweet deal.
– **Your residence permit does not expire** because you lost your job. Germany wants to keep its skilled workers. When you lose your job, email the Ausländerbehörde (use my [letter generator](https://allaboutberlin.com/docs/auslanderbehorde-job-change)), and wait 2-4 weeks for an answer. They will give you 6 months to find another job. Your spouse and children can stay too of course.
– **Your health insurance coverage stays the same**. If you get unemployment benefits, the state pays for it. If not, it becomes cheaper (about ~200€ per month). You might be forced to switch from private to public health insurance. In any case, have no fear; this is not the US.
– **Register as a job seeker** as soon as you know that you will be unemployed. The Agentur für Arbeit will invite you for an appointment. They will see if you qualify for unemployment insurance and guide you through the next steps. If you do this late, you lose a few weeks of unemployment benefits, so don’t wait.
– **Get your resignation letter right**. Your notice period starts when your boss *receives* your resignation letter. It has to be hand-signed, so you can’t just email it. People often get this wrong
– **Mind what you sign**. Your employer might suggest an Aufhebungsvertrag. That means that you *agree* to end the work contract. You forfeit some rights by doing this, and you can lose some unemployment benefits. It can be worth it if you get severance pay.
– **Severance pay** is much lower than in North America. You typically get 2 weeks per year of employment. It depends on how hard it would be to fire you otherwise.
– **Vacation days** are not lost. You either take them during your notice period, or get them paid back to you. In any case, you get the legal entitlement to vacations, either with this employer or the next.
## Unemployment benefits
– **Unemployment benefits are fairly generous**. You get 60-66% of your salary (up to 87k/year) for up to 12 months, as well as free professional courses, coaching and advice. If you don’t get what you want, you can ask another case worker.
– **You qualify for unemployment benefits** if you worked for 12 out of the last 30 months. There are many exceptions that lower those requirements.
– **Apply even if you don’t qualify** because they might give you other benefits like training, advice, Bürgergeld etc.
– **There can be a blocking period (*Sperrzeit*)** if you quit without a reason. During that period, you get no money, but they still pay for your health insurance, so that’s nice.
– **There are good reasons to quit** such as burnout, stress or bullying. There is no *Sperrzeit* if you can prove that you had a good reason. Try to keep a paper trail for this.
– **Your main job is to find a job** and your boss is the Agentur für Arbeit. If they call you for an appointment and you’re knocking about in Spain, they can punish you. However you get 20 days of vacation (plus more if you are subtle about it) to travel and do whatever.
– **Do everything on time**. The Agentur für Arbeit punishes tardiness by cutting your benefits for a week. Register as a job seeker as soon as you know that you will be unemployed. Register as unemployed in your last 3 months of work.
**If you have any questions, feel free to ask.** I’m still refining those guides, and I have more meetings with labour lawyers scheduled.
If you’re about to quit or get laid off, take a few minutes to read [my unemployment guide](https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/losing-your-job). It adds a lot of detail to what I wrote above.
by n1c0_ds
1 comment
Great work.