The Federal Labour Court (BAG) is sending an important message to employers: not every error in the notice of collective redundancy automatically renders the redundancies invalid.
The judgement concerned the insolvency of a key manufacturer and mechanical engineering company. The insolvency administrator informed the works council of the planned closure of the business and the redundancy of the remaining employees. Following the conclusion of the reconciliation of interests on 25 February 2025, he submitted the required notice of collective redundancy to the Employment Agency and subsequently issued the notices of termination.
The notification had stated that 34 employees were to be made redundant. In fact, however, only 31 or 32 redundancies were actually issued. One of the affected employees therefore considered the redundancy notice to be invalid and argued that the information provided to the works council and the Employment Agency was contradictory or incorrect.
Whilst the Labour Court had initially upheld the claim, the Hamm Regional Labour Court dismissed it on appeal. The Federal Labour Court has now upheld this decision.
In the view of the Sixth Senate, the decisive factor is the purpose served by the notification procedure. The aim is to enable the Employment Agency, within the statutory time limit, to respond to the economic and social consequences of large-scale redundancies and, where necessary, to initiate labour market policy measures.
Not every error stands in the way of this objective. In the court’s view, the slightly inflated figure for the announced redundancies did not, in fact, hinder the employment services in their work. The authority was still able to prepare for the placement of the affected workers and to examine suitable measures. The notification of mass redundancies therefore remained valid despite the objectively inaccurate information.
A collective redundancy within the meaning of Section 17(1) of the German Employment Protection Act (KSchG) occurs when a certain number of employees are made redundant within 30 calendar days. The statutory thresholds depend on the size of the undertaking.
In businesses with more than 20 and fewer than 60 employees, more than five employees must be affected. In companies with at least 60 and fewer than 500 employees, the notification requirement applies if at least ten per cent of the workforce or more than 25 employees are made redundant. For companies with 500 or more employees, the threshold is at least 30 redundancies.
In this context, redundancies are, in principle, treated in the same way as other terminations of employment initiated by the employer – such as mutual termination agreements at the company’s initiative.
The collective redundancy procedure consists of two sequential steps, the order of which must be strictly adhered to.
Firstly, the employer – provided there is a works council – must carry out the consultation procedure. This involves, in particular, informing the works council in good time and in full of the reasons for the planned redundancies, the number and occupational groups of the employees affected, the timeframe for the measures and the proposed selection criteria. In addition, options for avoiding redundancies or mitigating their consequences must be discussed.
Only once this procedure has been completed may the notification of collective redundancies be submitted to the relevant Jobcentre. The notification must contain the information required by law and take into account the works council’s comments. Upon receipt of the valid notification, the waiting period under Section 18(1) of the Employment Protection Act (KSchG) begins. As a general rule, redundancies do not take effect until one month later; the Employment Agency may extend this period in individual cases.
It is important to note that the obligation to submit a notice of collective redundancy also applies to companies without a works council. In such cases, the consultation procedure is simply omitted.
Recent case law from the Federal Labour Court (BAG) clearly shows that a distinction must be made between different types of errors.
In two judgments dated 1 April 2026, the court had already ruled that redundancies are invalid if no notice of collective redundancy has been given at all, or if the notice is submitted too early – that is, before the consultation procedure has been completed (Ref. 6 AZR 157/22 and 6 AZR 152/22).
With this latest ruling, the Federal Labour Court (BAG) has now clarified its position: not every substantive inaccuracy automatically renders the dismissals invalid. Rather, the decisive factor is whether the error impairs the actual purpose of the notification procedure.
This establishes a clear gradation: the complete absence of notification or serious procedural breaches continue to have serious consequences. Minor inaccuracies in individual details, on the other hand, do not necessarily render the notice invalid, provided that the Employment Agency can continue to perform its duties properly.
The ruling takes an employer-friendly stance in an area of law that has frequently been described in recent years as a minefield of employment law. For the first time, the Federal Labour Court (BAG) has expressly recognised that errors in a notice of collective redundancy must be assessed on a case-by-case basis and that not every formal defect automatically invalidates all redundancies.
The ruling creates greater legal certainty, particularly in the context of restructuring and insolvency proceedings. However, companies cannot take this as a general all-clear. This is because, at the same time, the Federal Labour Court (BAG) maintains the strict requirements regarding serious procedural errors. Anyone who fails to submit the notice at all, or submits it before the consultation procedure has been completed, continues to risk all redundancies being declared invalid.
Nor has the case law of the European Court of Justice of 30 October 2025 in the Tomann (C-134/24) and Sewel (C-402/24) cases met the expectations of many employers for a fundamental relaxation of the requirements.
In practice, therefore, one thing remains crucial above all else: due care. Companies should carefully check all the details in the mass redundancy notification – in particular the number of employees affected, the occupational groups and the size of the workforce – before submitting it. Equally important is the correct sequence of the individual steps: first, the consultation procedure must be fully completed; this is followed by the notification to the Employment Agency; and only then can notices of termination be issued.
Despite the current ruling, it remains unclear exactly where the line is drawn between a minor and a significant error. As the full grounds for the decision have not yet been published, it remains to be seen whether the Sixth Senate will issue further guidelines to which companies can refer in future.
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