Notice period for a mini-job: which period applies to you?

Notice period for a mini-job: the table

A mini-job is a normal employment with low earnings or a short duration (Sec. 8 (1) SGB IV). There is no separate "mini-job period"; Sec. 622 BGB applies. The table shows the statutory periods where neither the employment contract nor a collective agreement provides otherwise.

Employed since	You give notice	Employer gives notice (business, company)	Employer gives notice (private household)	Termination date
agreed probation, no more than 6 months	2 weeks	2 weeks	2 weeks	any day
less than 2 years	4 weeks	4 weeks	4 weeks	to the 15th or end of month
from 2 years	4 weeks	1 month	4 weeks	you and private household: to the 15th or end of month; business: to the end of the month
from 5 years	4 weeks	2 months	4 weeks	as above
from 8 years	4 weeks	3 months	4 weeks	as above
from 10 years	4 weeks	4 months	4 weeks	as above
from 12 years	4 weeks	5 months	4 weeks	as above
from 15 years	4 weeks	6 months	4 weeks	as above
from 20 years	4 weeks	7 months	4 weeks	as above

Why the private household is different: The extended periods are linked to the length of employment "in the business or company" (Sec. 622 (2) BGB). A private household is neither, so according to the Minijob-Zentrale (the central office for mini-jobs) there are no extended notice periods there. For a household help after 10 years, it would remain 4 weeks.

Mini-job limit 2026: €603 a month, derived from the minimum wage of €13.90 (Sec. 8 (1a) SGB IV, Sec. 1 MiLoV5). From 2027 it is €633. Your earnings play no role for the notice period.

If you resign from your mini-job: always 4 weeks

If you resign yourself, the basic period of 4 weeks to the 15th or to the end of the month applies by law, whether you have been there for 3 months or 15 years. Only the employer has to observe the longer periods based on length of service. You do not have to give a reason.

How to calculate the 4 weeks

• 4 weeks are 28 calendar days, not one month.
• The period starts on the day after the employer receives the notice (Sec. 187 (1) BGB). The day of handover does not count.
• Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays count.
• The employment ends on the next 15th or last day of the month falling after the 28 days have expired. You cannot give notice "to the 20th".

Example: Your employer receives your notice on Friday, 20 November 2026. The 28 days end on Friday, 18 December 2026. The 15 December date has therefore been missed, and your mini-job ends at the end of 31 December 2026. For an end on 15 December, the notice would have had to be received by Tuesday, 17 November, at the latest.

Calendar: by when must the notice be received?

Calculated under Sec. 187, 188 BGB. What counts is the day on which the notice reaches the employer, not the date on the letter.

Your mini-job is to end on	Notice must be received by
Tue, 15 December 2026	Tue, 17 November 2026
Thu, 31 December 2026	Thu, 3 December 2026
Fri, 15 January 2027	Fri, 18 December 2026
Sun, 31 January 2027	Sun, 3 January 2027 (safe: Thu, 31 December 2026)
Sun, 28 February 2027	Sun, 31 January 2027 (safe: Fri, 29 January 2027)
Wed, 31 March 2027	Wed, 3 March 2027
Fri, 30 April 2027	Fri, 2 April 2027
Mon, 31 May 2027	Mon, 3 May 2027
Wed, 30 June 2027	Wed, 2 June 2027

If the last day falls on a Sunday or public holiday, it is not moved back. A letter put in the employer's letterbox on such a day is usually only deemed received on the next working day. So hand in the notice in person on the last working day before.

All periods for employees, with examples after 10 or 20 years, can be found in the guide Notice periods for employees.

If the employer dismisses you: periods by length of service

For the employer in a commercial mini-job, for example in a café, in retail or in a medical practice, the period grows with the length of the employment (Sec. 622 (2) BGB). From 2 years, it can only give notice to the end of the month. The steps are in the table above: 1 month from 2 years, 2 months from 5 years, 3 months from 8 years, 4 months from 10 years, up to 7 months from 20 years.

Example after 2 years: You have had a mini-job in a bakery since March 2024. You receive the dismissal on Monday, 30 November 2026. The 1-month period ends on 30 December, and the employment ends on 31 December 2026. If the dismissal only arrives on Tuesday, 1 December, it ends on 31 January 2027. Rule of thumb: with 1 month, the dismissal must be received by the last day of the previous month at the latest.

Period calculated too short? Then the dismissal is usually not invalid as a whole, but takes effect on the next permissible date. Until then, you are entitled to your pay. You are only safe if you act within 3 weeks.

Is the notice period for a mini-job 14 days?

As a rule, only during probation (exceptions: temporary help and collective agreement, see below). Sec. 622 (3) BGB allows both sides a period of 2 weeks "during an agreed probationary period, for no longer than six months". Three conditions follow from this:

1. The probationary period has been agreed. It does not arise automatically, not even in a mini-job. If there is nothing in the contract and no collective agreement applies, 4 weeks to the 15th or end of month apply from the first day.
2. No more than 6 months. A longer probationary period does not extend the short notice period.
3. Receipt during probation. The notice must arrive within the probationary period. The employment may end afterwards.

During probation there is no fixed termination date. If the notice is received on Monday, 23 November 2026, the mini-job ends at the end of Monday, 7 December 2026. How to count the 14 days exactly is explained in the guide Notice period during probation.

Mini-job without an employment contract

Many mini-jobs start with a handshake. An employment contract can also be concluded orally (Sec. 105 GewO); written form only applies to the notice, not to concluding the contract. A fixed term, on the other hand, requires written form (Sec. 14 (4) TzBfG). Without a written contract, the following applies:

• The statutory period of 4 weeks to the 15th or end of month, and the extended periods for the employer.
• A probationary period with a 14-day period only exists if you have agreed one.
• Your employer must still give you the essential terms in writing or in text form (text form not in sectors such as hospitality or building cleaning, Sec. 2 (1) sentence 6 NachwG, Sec. 2a SchwarzArbG), including any agreed probationary period, the notice periods and the deadline for an unfair dismissal claim (Sec. 2 (1) NachwG). A breach, however, does not change the 3-week deadline for a claim.

Shorter or longer periods in the employment contract

What is in the employment contract takes precedence over the law, but only within these limits:

Agreement	Permitted?	Legal basis
Longer period for both sides, e.g. 3 months to the end of a quarter	yes	Sec. 622 (5) sentence 3 BGB
The employer's extended periods also apply to you	yes	Sec. 622 (5) sentence 3 BGB
Longer period for you than for the employer	no	Sec. 622 (6) BGB
Shorter period than 4 weeks for temporary help	yes, but only for the first 3 months	Sec. 622 (5) sentence 1 no. 1 BGB
4 weeks without a fixed date (i.e. not to the 15th or end of month) in a small business that normally has no more than 20 employees	yes	Sec. 622 (5) sentence 1 no. 2 BGB
Different periods from a collective agreement, shorter or longer	yes, if the collective agreement applies or, within its scope, is referred to in the contract	Sec. 622 (4) BGB
Any other period shorter than 4 weeks	no, the law applies	Sec. 622 (1), (5) BGB

For the limit of 20 employees, part-time staff with up to 20 hours a week count only as 0.5, and with up to 30 hours a week as 0.75 (Sec. 622 (5) sentence 2 BGB). Most mini-jobbers therefore count as half.

If you want to know which period your contract really provides for before you sign, you can have it checked: Have your employment contract reviewed, €259 fixed price, review report within 24 hours.

Short-term employment and fixed-term mini-jobs

Besides the mini-job with an earnings limit, there is short-term employment (kurzfristige Beschäftigung): no more than 3 months or 70 working days in a calendar year, in agriculture 15 weeks or 90 working days, for example as a harvest worker or temporary help during the Christmas season (Sec. 8 (1) no. 2 SGB IV). For notice, it does not matter which type of mini-job it is, but whether the contract is for a fixed term:

• Fixed term: The contract ends automatically on the agreed date (Sec. 15 (1) TzBfG); you do not need to give notice. Either side can only give ordinary notice beforehand if this has been agreed in the contract or the collective agreement (Sec. 15 (4) TzBfG). The normal periods or an agreed shorter period for temporary help then apply.
• Open-ended: The periods from the table apply. Summary dismissal for good cause is possible in both cases (Sec. 626 BGB).

If you simply carry on working after the end, and the employer knows this and does not object without delay, the contract is deemed extended for an indefinite period (Sec. 15 (6) TzBfG). You will then need to give notice with a period later on.

Giving notice correctly in a mini-job: form and receipt

The same rules on form apply to mini-jobbers and employers.

Written form: The notice must be on paper and signed by hand. Electronic form is excluded (Sec. 623 BGB). Notice by email, text message, WhatsApp, fax or orally is invalid, even if both sides agree.

What belongs in the notice (checklist, not a template):

• Your name and address, the employer's name and address
• Place and date
• The clear declaration that you are terminating the employment. The word "mini-job" is not necessary
• The end date you have calculated and, to be on the safe side, "alternatively on the next possible date". If your date is too early, the mini-job then ends on the next permissible date
• Your handwritten signature
• Optional: a request for a job reference and for settlement of remaining holiday and overtime

You do not have to give a reason for giving notice.

Proving receipt: The notice only takes effect on receipt (Sec. 130 (1) BGB). The safest options are handing it over in person against an acknowledgement of receipt or a messenger who knows the content. The Minijob-Zentrale also mentions registered mail delivered to the letterbox (Einwurf-Einschreiben).

Do not give notice to the Minijob-Zentrale: The Minijob-Zentrale is not your employer. Notice received there, for example via an online cancellation service, does not end the employment. The Minijob-Zentrale expressly points this out. Conversely: if your employer deregisters you with the Minijob-Zentrale, this is only a social security notification. It does not replace notice, because the employment generally only ends by written notice, a written termination agreement (Sec. 623 BGB) or a valid fixed term. If you only learned of your deregistration from the notification certificate (Meldebescheinigung), have your situation checked.

Getting out sooner: You can agree on an earlier end with a written termination agreement.

Summary dismissal in a mini-job

Either side can only give notice without a notice period for good cause, if waiting for the notice period to expire is unreasonable, taking all circumstances into account (Sec. 626 (1) BGB). The Minijob-Zentrale gives theft, gross insults and repeatedly unpaid wages as examples. For many breaches of duty, a formal warning is required first (Sec. 314 (2) BGB).

Summary dismissal must be declared within 2 weeks after the person giving notice has learned of the relevant facts (Sec. 626 (2) BGB). It also requires written form. On request, the person giving notice must state the reason in writing without delay. Details can be found in the guide Summary dismissal.

Protection against dismissal in a mini-job

Even if the employer observes the period, it may not dismiss you in every case. How an ordinary dismissal is assessed depends on three questions.

1. Does the Protection Against Dismissal Act apply? Yes, if your employment has existed without interruption for more than 6 months (Sec. 1 (1) KSchG) and the business normally has more than 10 employees, excluding trainees (Sec. 23 (1) sentence 3 KSchG, employment relationships from 2004). Mini-jobbers with up to 20 hours a week count as 0.5. The employer then needs a reason relating to your person, your conduct or urgent operational requirements (Sec. 1 (2) KSchG).

2. Small business or private household? If the Protection Against Dismissal Act does not apply, the employer does not need such a reason. According to the Minijob-Zentrale, it never applies in a private household. The dismissal must nevertheless not be arbitrary, immoral or discriminatory, for example out of revenge or because of ethnic origin (Sec. 138, 242 BGB, Sec. 7 AGG).

3. Special protection against dismissal? Regardless of the size of the business:

• Pregnancy: dismissal is generally not permitted if the employer knows about it or you inform them within 2 weeks of receipt (Sec. 17 (1) MuSchG).
• Parental leave: from the request, at the earliest 8 weeks before the start (up to the child's 3rd birthday), and during parental leave, no dismissal without approval by the competent state authority (Sec. 18 (1) BEEG).
• Severe disability: the employer needs the prior consent of the Integration Office (Integrationsamt) (Sec. 168 SGB IX), but only if your employment has existed for more than 6 months when the dismissal is received (Sec. 173 (1) no. 1 SGB IX). Further exceptions are set out in Sec. 173 SGB IX.

The 3-week deadline: If you want to claim that the dismissal is invalid, you must file a claim with the labour court within 3 weeks of receipt of the written dismissal (Sec. 4 KSchG). This also applies in a small business and in a mini-job, because under Sec. 23 (1) KSchG, Sec. 4 to 7 KSchG apply there too. If you miss the deadline, the dismissal is deemed valid from the outset (Sec. 7 KSchG). More in the guide Deadline for an unfair dismissal claim.

What applies during the notice period: pay, holiday, illness, reference

Your mini-job continues as normal until the last day. You work as agreed and receive your pay.

• Illness: A sick note does not protect you from dismissal, and the notice period continues to run. If you are ill, the employer continues to pay you for up to 6 weeks, as for all employees (Sec. 3 (1) EntgFG), but no longer than until the end of the employment, unless it gives notice because of the illness (Sec. 8 EntgFG). Details in the guides Dismissal during illness and Continued payment of wages.
• Remaining holiday: Mini-jobbers also have statutory holiday. If you can no longer take it before the end, the employer must pay it out (Sec. 7 (4) BUrlG). How many days you are entitled to is calculated in the guide Remaining holiday on dismissal.
• Time to look for a job: After notice of a permanent service relationship, the employer must give you reasonable time on request to look for a new job (Sec. 629 BGB). There is no general right to be released from work until the end.
• Job reference: When the employment ends, you are entitled to a written reference, on request with information on performance and conduct (Sec. 109 (1) GewO).