• Germany’s Federal Labor Court held that an employer’s failure to attempt contact with a vacationing employee for the purpose of a required hearing before issuing an extraordinary termination on suspicion rendered the termination invalid for exceeding the two-week notice period.
• An employer must make a reasonable attempt to reach an employee on vacation within one week of learning the relevant facts, and only such an attempt will suspend the running of the statutory notice period.
• The notice period will be suspended regardless of whether the contact attempt succeeds, but an employer may refrain from attempting contact only in exceptional circumstances.

The Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG)) (Decision of Dec. 4, 2025 – Ref. No. 2 AZR 55/25) clarifies: Employers must generally attempt to contact the employee who is absent due to vacation in order to facilitate a timely hearing. Under Section 626(2) of the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB)), the start of the two-week notice period for extraordinary termination is suspended only if the employer makes an attempt to contact the employee.

The Case—Termination After Returning From Leave

On April 27, 2023, a colleague accused a train conductor—who was protected against ordinary termination—of sexual harassment at his employer’s workplace.

At that time, the accused employee had already been on leave or approved vacation from April 25, 2023, through May 21, 2023, and was reachable during this period via...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0AFBVV95cUxQUXVTTjUyRUs0TkFzZVpLN2Et...