This shows the general statutory minimum only. A collective agreement, employment contract, or company policy can set a longer notice period, and this is not legal advice. Check your contract and, where in doubt, a labour law professional.
Why the same job can have three different notice periods
Statutory minimum notice is only a floor. In practice the notice period that applies to a real contract is often set higher by a collective agreement (a sector-wide deal covering an entire industry), an individual employment contract, or company policy, and the longest of these usually wins. This tool shows only the legal statutory minimum for a standard permanent contract, which is the one number that rarely changes and can be sourced reliably.
Statutory notice, a few reference points
| Country | Employer dismissal | Employee resignation |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 week per year of service (2 to 12 years), capped at 12 weeks | 1 week statutory minimum |
| Germany | 4 weeks up to 2 years, rising to 7 months after 20 years | 4 weeks (to the 15th or end of month) |
| France | 1 month (6 months to 2 years), 2 months (2+ years) | No Code du travail minimum, set by collective agreement |
Where this tool falls short
This tool cannot read your actual employment contract or the collective agreement (convention collective, Tarifvertrag, convenio colectivo) that may apply to your specific sector, and it does not cover probation periods, fixed-term contracts, senior executive terms, or dismissal for gross misconduct, all of which can have different rules. Some results here are marked as having no fixed statutory figure precisely because that country's law defers to the collective agreement or contract in that case, not because none applies.
How the statutory minimum is set
Most countries here scale the employer's notice period with length of service, on the reasoning that a longer-tenured employee needs more time to find alternative work, while some countries (like France for resignations) leave the whole matter to collective bargaining. Where a bracket boundary falls exactly on your length of service, this tool applies the rule for having completed that many months or years.