Dear All,

I have been working in a company for the last five years. My contract was renewed every year by the company when in 2006 they gave me unlimited contract. Since the last two years we have a new boss in our company. Everything was fine for about one year when he started being more demanding about my job. I am at the moment only person to look after the IT needs of a company with 200 people. Apart from my normal job contract, from time to time he has been involving me different kinds of IT projects which I gladly accepted and finished all projects on time even if I had to work overtime without being paid.

Just two weeks ago he got angry about some project which was not completed on time. This was the project where I was not even involved directly but he made me responsible for the delay of the project and asked me to resign. I replied back that I am not alone responsible for the delay in project and if he still feels that I am responsible then he should give me Kündigen. After few more minutes of heated discussions he was asking me to resign and I was replying back that you should give me Kündigen and I am not going to resign.

Later in the day I wrote him a letter that why he asked me to resign and asked him to write me the reason why I am alone responsible for the delay in project. He did not reply to my questions but he wrote some things like that I am not able to do my job well and since the company is changing very fast and having new projects he will evaluate my skills and if he finds me not capable he will take an action what is good for the company.

Now I feel he is just taking it very personal and wants to find a reason to give me Kündigen. Earlier too he has been threading me in front of staff members like if I don’t do this job he will fire me. I have been fed up of his nonsense behavior and now I want to manage this situation if possible legally.

As I told I am working in this company for five years and my contract was renewed every year till 2006 when I got unlimited contract. Till now he has no concrete reason to fire me and what ever he is telling is just seems to me a threat, But since I have not any formal degree in IT except a long working IT experience of about 8 years

My questions are

1. Can he fire me with the reason that I have not enough qualifications to do the job even if I am working here for the last five years and till date there has been no reason for me to fire.

2. If I get a Kündigen and I go to court, will I have to pay from myself the fee to the lawyer. Till the court decides the matter can I be working and getting paid in the company or I have to leave the company.

3. How long is the Kündigen notice if I am employed in the company for five years but just got my unlimited contract in 2006. There is nothing written in my contract about the Kündigen duration.

4. Till date I have no job description from the company and from time to time I am giving myself my job description. Can I ask them about my job description because only then I will know exactly for what kind of jobs I am responsible for.

5, Does any one has the experience to go to the court and challenge the Kündigen.

6. Can I sue my employer for all the mental agony and threats he has been giving to me?

I hope you will share your valuable experiences.

Best wishes

Don t resign your self, just let him to do that,,,,,,,,,,so that you can get Arbeitelosen geld.

Generally kündigung frist 6 wochen bis 3 monate.

right now IT market is very very good.....

you can find a good job any where in Germany.

PS: Dont ask him why he wants to fire you, just do your job,,,,,,,,,,,, wait until you get firing order from him.

Grüsse

@suarora

Are you male or female? Depending upon that I have separate set of advices for you.

1 - Do you have an "Arbeitsrechtschutzversicherung"(Labourlaw problems insurance)
If yes, you can go to a labour law lawyer, and tell your problem, your insurance takes care of the bill. He will give advises to you on how to take this further, make sure you have things ready like Arbeitsvertrag etc. when you go to a lawyer in this case. When you do not have such insurance, it does not make much sense to get one now because your protection (schutz) after 3 months, no surprise or ?

2- Do you have "Betriebsrat"(workers council or workscouncil) at your company?
"Betriebsrat"s are very useful in such situations other than they have hidden,dirty aggreements with management to do "Kuhhandel"(I give you this, you give me that)
They can speak to your employer etc. and ask for good money even if you leave with a "Aufhebungsvertrag". Be careful with that option.

3- Are you member of any "Gewerkschaft"(like Verdi etc.)
Gewerkschafts are also useful. They charge %1 of your salary every month but keep a lawyer and similar services ready for you in case you have such problems which you described.

Hope this helps.

@suarora,

pls dont resign. The kündigungs recht are very strong specially after you have unlimited contract. Secondly even if you are working even on limited contract period for more than 2 years contineously, then in the court of law this is also considered as a permanant job. Remember employee rights are very strong in germany and you can bring the pants down of your irrational boss. You can even tell him that if he humiliates you in front of all.

Tell him that any further communication should be in writing. You have the right for that. your boss is taking advantage of your situation. You only got to be strong.

I have also heard that if you are permanant employee and you need to be laid off because of companies own reasons, you need to be paid one months sal for each remaining year of your career till retirement. pls note that i am not sure about it. you should consult a lawyer for this.

whether you are man or woman, be strong and let your emotions not get into your way. You will be successful.

Thank you so much indgerausliesw, Akshay, pwehrli and savion for your encouragement. I feel better now. I plan to go to Arbeitnehmer Kammer which is a group of employees and they advice on various issues relating to employment.
@Akshay
BTW I am a male :-) Any further suggtestions from you can be useful for me.
@pwehrli
Unfortunatly we don't have Betriebsrat which otherwise could had been very helpful in our company.
@savion
You are right about the communication process. Infact in his letter he has wrote so many wrong things about me that he can be in trouble. In his letter he has asked me to come to work even in holidays and many other things which are against the contract. I am replying him again and want him to write more so as to have proof in writing.

Thank you again and I wish you all a nice weekend :-)

@suarora

This is the cheapest solution for you.

http://www.huk.de/-snm-0177507458-1188131534-01f8400019-0000001270-1189184402-enm-produkte/recht_und_haftung/-snm-0177507458-1188131534-01f8400019-0000001270-1189184410-enm-rechtsschutz/-snm-0177507458-1188131534-01f8400019-0000001270-1189184454-enm-0.1221.jsp

However,you have to wait 3 months before you could use this protection. So do it today :-)