Termination for personal reasons.
Under German law, employers with more than 10 employees (in any given business unit) may not dismiss staff at will. A layoff is legitimate if it is based on personal reasons. Admissible personal reasons are any circumstances preventing the employee from performing the necessary work on a permanent basis. Note that personal reasons are not related to any misconduct, fault or “culpability”, but rather to any objective inability of the employee to fulfill contractual obligations. Examples: → Prolonged illness → Imprisonment → Missing work permit → Lack of physical fitness, e.g., after an accident → Revocation of driving license (if relevant for the position) The negative prognosis is important here: The work performance is not only impaired in the short term, but the employee will also not be able to perform it in the future.
Applicable notice period: minimum 1 month, increasing over time as of § 622 BGB.
German labour courts generally do not assume a negative health prognosis and do not allow for a dismissal for health reasons if the employee has not been ill for more than six weeks per year in the last few years.
Extremely serious and urgent personal reasons may in principle also justify an extraordinary termination (termination for cause) with immediate effect.