In China it is only 54 percent

Gütersloh / Düsseldorf (dpa / tmn) – Losing your job by giving notice is usually bitter. Many believe that the loss must be made better by a severance payment. But that is a fallacy.

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“In principle, employees have no legal entitlement to severance pay in the event of dismissal,” explains Johannes Schipp, a labor law specialist from Gütersloh. However, those affected may be entitled to a payment if it is anchored in a social plan or collective agreement.

Let the deadline for action expire

A claim also exists in the event of a termination for operational reasons. Prerequisite: the employer must already announce a severance payment of at least half a gross monthly salary per year of employment when the employee is dismissed – in the event that the employee does not sue for dismissal.

“In this case, the employer must justify the termination in writing with urgent operational requirements,” explains Schipp. In order to receive the severance payment, the employee must then allow the three-week period for legal action to pass and waive an action for protection against dismissal.

Another constellation: The employer terminates the company as part of a change of company, i.e. usually a large wave of layoffs, without properly involving the works council. Then the employee can make a disadvantage compensation according to the Works Constitution Act applicable.

Employees often bring an action for protection against dismissal when they are laid off. If the prospect that the employee wins the process is good, employers often show a willingness to end the process with a settlement – and pay the employee a severance payment. Because employers run the risk of having to pay additional wages if they lose the procedure.

The amount of the severance payment is determined individually

In general, the following applies: In the event of unlawful termination, the severance payment is often comparatively high. Courts often use a rule of thumb of half a gross monthly salary per year of employment when they want to get negotiations between the parties going, explains Tjark Menssen. He is head of the legal department of the legal protection of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). “But this rule of thumb is not mandatory.”

Severance payments are often accompanied by a termination agreement. This can make it easier for employees to plan their exit – especially if they have already found a new employer. But: “With a termination agreement without a new employment relationship, there is a risk of up to a twelve-week lock-up period for unemployment benefits,” warns Menssen.community service essay template

In order to avoid this, it must be clear from the termination agreement that the employee did not initiate or is responsible for the termination of the employment relationship, but that this is done solely at the instigation of the employer.

Turbo clause: remuneration plus severance pay for the employee

“In the case of a termination agreement, a so-called turbo clause can also be advantageous,” explains Schipp. Both sides can stipulate that the employee will leave the company before the intended end of the employment relationship and receive the remuneration that is still outstanding in addition to the severance payment.

What is also important: “Even if a severance payment is agreed in a social plan, that does not mean that you have to accept a termination,” says Menssen. If an employee takes legal action against his dismissal, a situation can arise in the course of legal proceedings that makes a higher severance payment possible.

Konstanz (dpa / tmn) – At the end of the year it is often particularly stressful for employees because a lot has yet to be completed. In order not to take this feeling with you on your Christmas vacation, small tricks can help.

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The Institute for Workplace Health Advice (IFBG), for example, advises blocking times in the calendar before the holiday starts. This time is then used to work off things that absolutely need to be done before the holiday.

Colleagues can edit emails

But it is also clear that anyone who is not at work for a long time at the turn of the year cannot prepare everything. Substitution regulations are therefore useful. According to the IFBG, important tasks that arise during your own absence can be delegated to colleagues.

According to the information, it often helps to have the emails automatically forwarded to the representative colleagues. In the best case, this saves you a full inbox that you have to plow through after the New Year. Often the representation can already decide what is really important and what can be put in the trash. Allowing the out-of-office message to run a day longer also ensures a smoother return.

Celebrate the last day of work

In order to really get into the holiday mood, the IFBG advises to celebrate the end of the last working day. In this way you can be aware that there are now a few days or even weeks of free time. It could be a nice ritual, for example, to meet friends for an elf.

In general, the following applies: anticipation helps to prepare for a relaxed time. Employees can therefore imagine what and whom they are particularly looking forward to on their vacation.

Baierbrunn (dpa / tmn) – Anyone who goes back to work after parental leave should prepare for their return early in discussions with their employer. In addition, it pays to remain visible during parental leave.

Especially mothers who fear a career dip due to the time off should stay in contact with bosses and colleagues. This is what Kirsten Frohnert recommends in the magazine “Baby und Familie” (issue 9/2019). She is the project manager of the entrepreneur network “Success Factor Family”. As an easy way, she suggests taking part in company celebrations, for example.

Participate in projects

Another tip from the expert: Those who use parental leave for further training upgrade their professional profile and bring additional qualifications with them when they return.

It is also helpful to accompany exciting projects that are planned during the absence. For example, by offering employees to take part in important meetings. Because: Employees can work up to 30 hours on parental leave, as Frohnert explains – as long as this is contractually agreed and discussed.

Düsseldorf (dpa / tmn) – In a changing world of work, employees are often confronted with new challenges. They can react to this with a special behavioral strategy.

“If I am under pressure at work, if I have stress, or if I have to face changes, resilient behavior is important,” says Anika Peschl from the ifaa – Institute for Applied Ergonomics.

What does that mean? Resilience, explains the expert, is the resistance of individuals to external stress. So it’s about the questions: How can I deal with unforeseen situations or turbulence? And how do I take challenges as an opportunity for my personal development?

“The good thing is that resilience can be learned, and it is never too late to develop and strengthen personal resilience,” explains Peschl. First of all, it is important that employees internalize positive attitudes such as: “I can do it”, “I believe in it” and “I perceive and let go” – that is, a belief in their own abilities and knowledge and acceptance, some things not being able to undo it.

There are strategies to strengthen resilient behavior in individual cases: For example, it is about staying calm even in difficult situations and not letting anger and fears determine your behavior. It can be a stressful customer who strains your nerves. Then: take a deep breath, keep calm and still show professionalism. “If I deal with such a situation calmly, I know how to deal with difficult clients in the future,” explains Peschl.

In conflict situations, for example when there is quarrel between colleagues, resilient behavior means directing one’s own emotions. So: Put yourself in the shoes of your counterpart and their point of view and don’t take criticism too personally.

According to the expert, if there are difficult tasks in the job, they should be approached rationally and carefully. “It helps if I have a plan B available,” that is, a second approach in the event that the task does not succeed immediately.

Employees should see challenges in their job as an opportunity to develop themselves further. It is also part of not just pushing difficult things aside, but sticking to the point.

Internalizing resilient behavior is basically a long process, says Peschl. This includes practice, and “of course you have to keep reminding yourself of the strategies,” says the expert. This can be done, for example, with notes or with special training courses and workshops that are implemented in the team or in the company.

Berlin (dpa) – According to a recent study, there is a lot of catching up to do in Germany when it comes to acquiring digital skills for everyday work. 43 percent of those surveyed in Germany estimate that their current skills and knowledge will no longer be sufficient for their profession.

This was the result of a current study by the Vodafone Institute. In China, however, the estimated need to catch up is even greater: 78 percent of those surveyed believe there is. In a global comparison, China has the highest value.

The online survey is the second part of a series of studies with which the Vodafone Institute wants to examine the status and acceptance of new technologies in various countries and thus also explore the discrepancy between Europe and the USA and Asia, which are considered to be digital pioneers.

In Germany, 71 percent of respondents state that they have so far taught themselves digital skills. In China it is only 54 percent. Employers in Asia (India and China), on the other hand, give their employees much more time for further training than in Europe. 40 percent of the Chinese can use between one and five hours of their working hours per week for further training, 23 percent even more than five hours. In Germany, however, it is only 19 and 6 percent respectively.

According to the study, willingness to undertake further training in leisure time is much more pronounced in Asia. Around 50 percent of those surveyed in China and India are willing to take up to five hours a week to study in their free time. In Europe, the level of willingness is significantly lower. In Germany and Sweden, for example, only 35 and 26 percent would do this. Inger Paus, managing director of the Vodafone Institute, called for more initiative. “In view of the widespread fear of job loss through digitization, it is not only the state and companies that are required.

Berlin (dpa / tmn) – If a colleague works in the home office, other employees often want that too. But can a claim be derived from this alone?

“No,” explains Peter Meyer, specialist lawyer for labor law in Berlin. “There is currently no general statutory right to work from home.” At most, in special cases, according to voices in the case law, for example, people with disabilities could result in such a claim from the Social Security Code.

In such a case, however, employees may be able to enforce the right to work from home under the aspect of equal treatment. “If the employer, for example, allows eight employees with a similar profile in the company to work from home and not two others, it could also be legally difficult for the employer to justify this unequal treatment,” says Meyer.

However, if home office is reserved for certain groups of employees, for example exclusively managers or sales employees, this is justified. For other employees there is no entitlement to equal treatment.

If the aspect of equal treatment comes into play, according to Meyer it is always a matter of individual consideration. “If one out of 100 employees is allowed to work in the home office, there is hardly any entitlement to home office for the other 99 employees,” says Meyer. “With 98 out of 100 employees working from home, things look different.”

About the person: Peter Meyer is a specialist lawyer for labor law and works in the labor law working group in the German Bar Association (DAV).

Hanover (dpa / tmn) – Ideally, you don’t just go to work to earn money. But because it is fun and, at best, even physically good.