The growth in Berlin tech companies has apparently come to a halt. Most companies have at least imposed a hiring freeze. Many have started laying staff off. After some large mass layoffs at SoundCloud, ShareNow, and Infarm last fall we now hear about a lot of smaller or less visible campaigns to reduce staff at different Berlin offices. Many workers are offered termination agreements and are told that they will be dismissed if they do not accept to terminate their employment voluntarily.

Registration for our online event is mandatory, it will be held over Zoom.

In our Q&A session we aim at clarifying the legal framework around this:

  • We will look at the pros and cons of signing such termination agreements and look at the legal consequences for the employment and social security status of affected staff.
  • Also we will clarify how dismissal protection works in Germany and how staff can defend against being dismissed for operational reasons (ie. in case of a redundancy).

Our speakers are Anna Gilsbach and Daniel Weidmann. Both are lawyers with dka Rechtsanwälte.

Berlin Tech Workers Coalition regularly hosts educational events like this, and a network of tech workers who can share their experiences on how to respond to situations like this.

Zoom registration event here

Photo of Gilsbach and Weidmann attornies

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