The German Dismissal Protection Act Poem

It can be said without any hesitation
Employees in Germany enjoy great protection
From dismissal and woe betide an employer which forgets
To comply with the Kündigungsschutzgesetz.*

The KSchG ** protects all employees 
From being dismissed unlawfully 
Unless the employer is able to found 
The decision to dismiss on one of the permitted grounds. 

Long term sickness might be a justification 
Concerning the employee's “personal situation”
Provided that the employer clearly shows
That for the employee, in the near future, it is known
There is a negative Gesundheitsprognose. ***

But for an employee found drunk at work will
Not be lawfully dismissed if his alcoholism is because he is ill
For the purpose of the employee’s personal situation
Under the Kündigungschutzgesetz
Such a dismissal would cause the employer a lot of regrets.

The second ground is the employee's behaviour
Such as theft or other offences under German criminal law
Allowing the employer to dismiss summarily 
The employee under article 626 of the BGB****
Without having to give a warning to the employee
Unlike for other misconduct such as persistent unpunctuality.

A betriebsbedingte Kündigung
Or dismissal for operational grounds
Is the third justification which must be found
Provided that it is absolutely clear
That there is no comparable job to the one that will disappear.

The employer must conduct a Sozialauswahl or “social selection”
To determine which employee least deserves protection
Based on the following four criteria: seniority in the company
Age, number of dependants and severe disability. 

For the Kündigungsschutzgesetz to apply
Two conditions must be satisfied.
First, it must be totally clear
That the employee has been continually employed here
In the Betrieb ***** for more than half a year.

Second, in order to gain protection under the KSchG
It must be established unequivocally
That the Betrieb has more than ten employees
In accordance with section 23 of that law
For people employed since 1 January 2004.

However, according to a BAG ****** judgment in 2013
When determining that the threshold is achieved
We count temporary workers regularly employed
By the employer to satisfy its needs.   

After reading this poem you will have seen
That dismissing an employee is complicated in Germany
The information in this poem is quite concise
But in no way constitutes legal advice. 

* German Dismissal Protection Act
** Acronym for the German Dismissal Protection Act
*** Unlikelihood of recovery from sickness
**** Das Bürgeliche Gesetzbuch or the German Civil Code
**** Business operation or establishment
****** BAG is the acronym for das Bundesarbeitsgericht - The Federal Labour Court