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A signed letter, the right date, and three steps after
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Janine El-Saghir
Janine El Saghir is an editor at How-to-Germany.com, where she specializes in the practical aspects of daily life and integration for expatriates. With years of...
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Sadie Voss is the Lead Editor for How-to-Germany.com. As an expat who carved her own way into Berlin from the United States, Sadie is deeply...
- Form: a letter on paper with your handwritten signature. An email, a chat message or a scan does not end a job in Germany.
- Date: four weeks to the 15th or to the end of a month, unless your contract or a collective agreement sets another period. Two weeks during probation.
- Afterwards: register as a job seeker with the Federal Employment Agency, ask for your reference letter, and have untaken vacation paid out.
You do not need a reason, and you do not need your employer’s consent. What you need is a valid letter that arrives in time. The template below works for most contracts, the calendar examples show how to pick the last day, and the salary calculator tells you what the next offer is worth after tax.
When the last weeks turn into a dispute
Most resignations end quietly. The ones that do not are about the final salary, the payout of vacation days, the reference letter or a non-compete clause. Those disputes go to the labor court, where each side pays its own lawyer in the first instance. Legal insurance with the employment module covers that cost, provided the policy was in place before the dispute began and its waiting period has passed. Feather and Getsafe handle applications and claims in English. Modules, waiting periods and exclusions: legal insurance in Germany.
The letter: paper and signature
A resignation is valid only in writing, and the law rules out the electronic form. In practice that means a printed letter with your signature in ink, handed to your employer or sent by post. The letter needs no reason. It needs your name and address, the employer’s name and address, the date, a clear statement that you terminate the employment, the day you want it to end, and a request for written confirmation and your reference letter. Keep a copy.
The letter takes effect when it reaches the employer, not when you send it. Hand it over in person and have the receipt confirmed in writing, or send it in a way that documents the delivery date.
| German | English |
|---|---|
| [Your name] [Your address] [Employer] [City], [date] Kündigung meines Arbeitsvertrags Sehr geehrte Frau [name] / Sehr geehrter Herr [name], hiermit kündige ich meinen Arbeitsvertrag vom [contract date] ordentlich und fristgerecht zum [last day]. Sollte dieser Termin nicht zutreffen, kündige ich zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt. Bitte bestätigen Sie mir den Eingang dieser Kündigung und das Beendigungsdatum schriftlich. Außerdem bitte ich um ein qualifiziertes Arbeitszeugnis. Mit freundlichen Grüßen [handwritten signature] |
[Your name] [Your address] [Employer] [City], [date] Termination of my employment contract Dear Ms / Mr [name], I hereby give ordinary notice to terminate my employment contract of [contract date] with effect from [last day]. Should this date not apply, I terminate it at the earliest possible date. Please confirm receipt of this notice and the end date in writing. I also ask for a detailed reference letter. Yours sincerely [handwritten signature] |
| Write the letter in German if German is the working language. The sentence about the earliest possible date protects you if you miscounted the notice period. | |
Counting the notice period
If your contract says nothing, the law gives four weeks to the 15th or to the end of a calendar month. Four weeks means 28 days from the day the letter arrives, and the job ends on the first 15th or month end after those 28 days. Contracts and collective agreements often set longer periods, and they bind you as long as the employer’s period is at least as long. A notice period that is longer for you than for the employer is not allowed. During probation the period is two weeks, ending on any day.
| Letter received | Rule | Last day |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, 2 March 2027 | 28 days end on 30 March, so the next possible date is the month end | 31 March 2027 |
| Wednesday, 17 March 2027 | 28 days end on 14 April, so the 15th works | 15 April 2027 |
| Friday, 19 March 2027 | 28 days end on 16 April, the 15th is missed, so the month end | 30 April 2027 |
| 19 March 2027, contract says three months to the end of a month | Three full months | 30 June 2027 |
| Thursday, 10 June 2027, during probation | Two weeks, any day | 24 June 2027 |
| Source: German Civil Code, notice periods for employment; own calculation. | ||
A fixed-term contract cannot be resigned during the term unless the contract allows it. The way out is a termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag), also on paper, which both sides sign. Before you sign one, read the section on unemployment benefit below.
Before your last day
- Register as a job seeker (arbeitsuchend) with the Federal Employment Agency: three months before your last day, or within three days if you learn of the end later than that. Registration works online. A late registration costs one week of unemployment benefit.
- Ask for your reference letter in the resignation letter and again before you leave. The law gives you a written reference when the job ends, and a detailed one on request. How to read the grades: the Arbeitszeugnis.
- Have untaken vacation paid out. Days you can no longer take because the job ends must be paid with the final salary. Your share for the year: vacation days in Germany.
- Ask for time off for interviews. Once notice has been given, your employer has to grant you reasonable time to look for a new job.
- Check the final payslip. Salary is due at the end of the period it covers, and the last one should include the vacation payout.
Unemployment benefit after resigning
Unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld) requires twelve months of contributions within the last thirty months and a registration as unemployed with the agency. It pays 60% of your previous net pay, 67% if you have a child, for six to twenty-four months depending on how long you paid in and on your age. If you resign without an important reason, the agency normally suspends payment for twelve weeks. Signing a termination agreement can have the same effect. With a new job lined up this does not matter. Without one, ask the agency before you hand in the letter, not after.
Bottom line
A new job lined up makes this simple: send the signed letter, confirm the date and ask for your reference. Without one, talk to the Federal Employment Agency before you hand it in, because resigning can pause your unemployment benefit.
Part of working in Germany. Related: notice periods in your contract · resigning during probation · finding the next job.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. A resignation does not need the employer’s agreement. It becomes effective the moment the letter reaches the employer, which is why you should hand it over with a witness or send it in a way that records the delivery. A refused signature on the receipt changes nothing.
Only if your withdrawal reaches the employer before the letter does, or at the same time. Once the resignation has arrived, it binds you, and taking it back needs the employer’s consent. Treat the letter as final before you hand it over.
Yes, unless you and the employer agree in writing on an earlier end. Many employers release departing staff from work for the final weeks while continuing to pay. That is a matter of agreement, not a right you can insist on.
A termination agreement ends the job on a date both sides choose, without a notice period, and it must be on paper with both signatures. It can suit you if the new job starts soon. If you will depend on unemployment benefit, the agency may treat it like a resignation and suspend payment for twelve weeks, so ask the agency first.
Yes. Neither illness nor vacation stops you from resigning, and the notice period runs as it would otherwise. Make sure the letter still reaches the employer in time, and keep the proof of delivery.
Sources and legal basis (as of 4 November 2026)
Sources and legal basis (as of 4 November 2026)
- Labor Court Act (Arbeitsgerichtsgesetz), § 12a: each side pays its own lawyer in the first instance.
- German Civil Code (BGB), § 623: written form for every termination and termination agreement, electronic form excluded; § 126: handwritten signature; § 130: effective on receipt, withdrawal only before or at the same time.
- German Civil Code, § 622: four weeks to the 15th or the month end, two weeks in probation, longer periods by contract or collective agreement, no longer period for the employee than for the employer.
- Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (TzBfG), § 15: no ordinary termination of a fixed-term contract unless agreed.
- Social Code Book III (SGB III), § 38: registering as a job seeker three months before the end or within three days; Federal Employment Agency, how to register as a job seeker (online, in German) and press release on the one-week suspension for late registration.
- Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung), § 109: the reference letter.
- Federal Vacation Act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz), § 7: payout of vacation that can no longer be taken.
- German Civil Code, § 629: time off to look for a new job; § 614: when pay is due.
- Social Code Book III, § 137, § 142 and § 143: conditions for unemployment benefit, twelve months within thirty; § 149: 60% and 67%; § 147: duration from six to twenty-four months; § 159: suspension of twelve weeks after giving up a job; Federal Employment Agency, Merkblatt 1 for the unemployed, section 6 (in German).
Further sources (retrieved on 4 November 2026). Legal insurance waiting periods: the providers’ product pages as documented on legal insurance in Germany. Product data: our own product database. Calendar examples: own calculation from the notice-period rules.