The person who receives the notice of termination must immediately register in person with the employment office as a job seeker, even if the employment relationship does not end until months after the notice period has expired.
On December 30, 2002, the first and second laws for modern services in the labor market (Hartz laws) were signed and proclaimed by the Federal President.
A little-noticed part of the legislation contains provisions that are intended to enable the employment office to find a new job for the dismissed employee during the notice period. To this end, a reporting requirement was introduced in § 37 b SGB III, which obliges all employees to personally report to the employment office as jobseekers immediately upon receipt of the notice of termination. Immediately means, according to the legal definition, without culpable hesitation (§ 121 BGB); in plain language: immediately. If someone is employed on a temporary basis, they should register as a jobseeker at the employment office no earlier than three months before the end of the temporary employment relationship, but then immediately. If you take the law literally, the fixed-term employee must report in person to the employment office exactly three months before the end of his fixed-term employment relationship.
In order for employees to be aware of their obligation to register and to be able to fulfill it in good time, the legislator in § 2 SGB III has imposed on the employer the obligation to inform the employee about the obligation to report immediately to the employment office and to release him from work for this purpose.
If the employee does not register as a jobseeker immediately, Section 140 of the SGB III provides for a "penalty" of a reduction in unemployment benefit of between EUR 7.00 and EUR 50.00 for each day of late registration. The reduction is limited to the amount calculated for a late registration of 30 days; thus a maximum of EUR 1,500.00 (30 days x EUR 50.00). The reduction is applied in such a way that the unemployed person retains at least half of the unemployment benefit. The legislator considers this flat-rate compensation to be appropriate because the employee delays the initiation of placement and integration efforts by the employment office due to the late registration with the employment office, thus making the obligation to pay unemployment benefits more likely.
The employer's obligation to point out the reporting requirement under § 37 b SGB III has existed since January 1, 2003, although the reporting requirement for the employee and the flat-rate compensation in the event of late reporting will not take effect until July 1, 2003. The legislator's intention in introducing this delay is to ensure that every employee has the opportunity to become aware of the change in the law. From July 1, 2003, no one can claim ignorance of the law. Accordingly, the principle "ignorance does not protect against punishment!" applies here as well.
We would advise all employers to include a sentence along the following lines in every letter of dismissal: "According to § 37 b SGB III, you are obliged to report to your employment office personally and immediately (immediately) as a jobseeker. If you fail to meet this obligation, you may face a reduction in your unemployment benefit."
Employers who forget this note after June 30, 2003 run the risk of being sued for damages by employees whose unemployment benefits are reduced due to late notification.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.