Germany: Delivering a Notice of Termination by Registered Letter is Not Legally Safe Regardless a Successful Delivery Status

The consignment status indicating a successful delivery of a registered letter containing a notice of termination is not sufficient to establish prima facie evidence that the notice of termination was actually received by the employee. Pursuant to recent case law, the consignment status says nothing about whether the deliverer actually paid particular attention to the specific delivery, which would justify the conclusion that the item posted was delivered to the addressee’s mailbox.

 

Background

Under German law, a termination of employment must be challenged in court within three weeks upon receipt, otherwise it is deemed valid. In the case before the Federal Labour Court, employer and employee were already in dispute about a termination of employment issued in March 2022, when the employer argued that he had again terminated the employment in July 2022, but this second termination had not been challenged by the employee in time thus, leading to its validity. However, the employee denied receipt of this second termination.

The employer claimed that two of his employees had put the termination letter into an envelope. One of them then took the envelope to the post office and posted it personally as a registered letter on 26 July 2022. According to the so-called consignment status available on the internet, the letter was delivered to the plaintiff on 28 July 2022 with the corresponding consignment number.

 

Key Issues

However, in its ruling dated 30 January 2025, the Federal Labour Court found that the employer had not presented sufficient evidence on the delivery of the termination letter to the plaintiff’s mailbox on 28 July 2022. The burden of proof regarding the receipt of a termination letter by the employee is fully on the employer in case of dispute. The proof of posting of a registered letter, together with a consignment status available on the internet that suggested successful delivery, was not sufficient to establish prima facie evidence that the letter had actually been received by the plaintiff.

The Court found that the status of posting is not a substitute for proof of delivery. It says nothing about whether the deliverer actually paid particular attention to the particular delivery, which would justify the conclusion that the item posted was delivered to the addressee’s mailbox.  This conclusion was supported by the fact that the consignment status submitted by the employer did not indicate to whom, at what time, to what address, or, at least, in what delivery area the delivery have been made.

Practical Points

• It is still widely believed that termination letters can be delivered to employees in a legally safe manner via registered letter. However, this is not the case this time. Employers should ensure a proper process in this regard as the burden of proof is fully on them in case of dispute.
• The safest way to deliver a notice of termination, if a direct handover to the employee with a witness present is not possible, is to work with a courier service with delivery protocols certifying the details of the delivery process.