Calculator, November 2026 edition

Notice period and start date calculator for Germany: quarter ends, probation, garden leave and non-competes

Senior contracts in Germany often tie the notice period to the end of a quarter, sometimes with garden leave and a post-contractual non-compete on top. That makes "when can you start?" a harder question than it sounds. This calculator works out the last day of employment, the latest date your notice has to arrive, the earliest realistic start date and, if a non-compete applies, the minimum compensation (Karenzentschädigung) and the date you can join a competitor.

Checked against the legal texts and the case law cited below on 14th November 2026. Built by Andreas Schulz, MoreThanCareer.de: 17 years in recruitment, 14 of them in pharma and CRO environments at Bayer, ICON and Syneos Health. I'm a Recruiter and career coach, not a lawyer, so treat the result as a well-founded estimate and have a specialist in employment law check anything you're about to sign or send.

Your situation

Who gives notice? I resign (the employee gives notice) The employer gives notice

Date the notice letter reaches the other side

Start date of the employment

Agreed probation period No probation agreed 1 month 2 months 3 months 4 months 5 months 6 months

Notice during probation Two weeks (§ 622 (3) BGB) The contract's notice clause applies from day one

Notice clause in the contract The contract sets its own period No clause, statutory periods apply

Notice period in the contract monthsweeks

Notice runs to the end of a quarter to the end of a month to the 15th or the end of a month to 30th June or 31st December to the end of the year to any day

The contract says the longer statutory periods for the employer also apply when the employee resigns

Garden leave (Freistellung) during the notice period

Garden leave starts on (empty means the day notice arrives)

Remaining holiday days

The release is irrevocable and states that holiday is credited

Post-contractual non-compete (nachvertragliches Wettbewerbsverbot)

Length of the ban in months

Annual fixed salary, gross (€)

Average annual bonus over the last three years (€)

Annual value of benefits in kind, such as a company car (€)

Compensation agreed in the contract (% of the above)

Expected annual income during the ban (€)

Employer waived the ban in writing on (optional)

The ban forces me to move home

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Latest arrival dates for common senior notice clauses in 2027

What counts is the day your letter reaches the other side. Posting it in time isn't enough. The table shows the last day on which notice can arrive and still end the employment on the date at the top of each column.

Calculated under §§ 187 and 188 BGB: the day of arrival doesn't count, and a period in months ends on the day with the same number, or on the last day of a shorter month. A three-month notice arriving on 1st October 2026 therefore ends on 31st March 2027. To leave on 31st December 2026, it had to arrive by 30th September.

How the calculator works

It starts from the day notice is received (Zugang). A letter handed over in person counts on the day of handover. A letter put into a letterbox counts on the day the recipient could normally be expected to empty it, so a Sunday drop usually counts on Monday. Notice has to be given in writing with a handwritten signature. Email, a scan or a messenger photo isn't enough, because § 623 BGB excludes electronic form.

The period itself is counted from the next day. Weeks end on the same weekday, months on the same date. The calculator then moves forward to the first permitted end date: the 15th or the last day of a month for the statutory period, the last day of a quarter, half-year or year where the contract says so. The end can fall on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. The rule in § 193 BGB that pushes deadlines to the next working day doesn't apply to notice periods, as the Federal Labour Court (BAG) held on 5th March 1970 (BAGE 22, 304) and the Federal Court of Justice confirmed on 17th February 2005 (III ZR 172/04).

For the start of a new job it shows the day after the end date and the first working day after that. It skips weekends and the nine public holidays that apply across Germany. Regional holidays such as Corpus Christi or Reformation Day aren't included.

Notice periods under § 622 BGB

Without a contractual clause, both sides can give four weeks' notice to the 15th or the end of a calendar month (§ 622 (1) BGB). For notice given by the employer, the period grows with the length of the employment (§ 622 (2) BGB) and ends at the end of a month:

Years before your 25th birthday count in full. The old sentence in § 622 (2) BGB that excluded them conflicts with the EU ban on age discrimination and has not been applied since the Court of Justice of the European Union decided Kücükdeveci (C-555/07) on 19th January 2010.

The longer periods in that table bind only the employer, unless the contract extends them to the employee. Many senior contracts do exactly that, with a sentence like "the extended statutory notice periods also apply to notice given by the employee". Tick the matching box, and the calculator compares both periods and uses the one that ends later. A contract can lengthen the periods. It can only shorten the basic four weeks in narrow cases, such as small employers with up to 20 employees (§ 622 (5) BGB), and the employee's period may not be longer than the employer's (§ 622 (6) BGB). Collective agreements (Tarifverträge) can set their own periods (§ 622 (4) BGB), and the calculator doesn't know them.

Probation

During an agreed probation period of up to six months, either side can give two weeks' notice to any day (§ 622 (3) BGB). The notice has to arrive by the last day of probation. The two weeks can then run beyond it. A probation period starting on 1st March 2026 ends on 31st August 2026. Notice arriving that day ends the employment on 14th September 2026, and notice arriving on 1st September falls under the normal rules.

Read the contract closely here. In a pre-drafted contract that names a probation period in one clause and a longer notice period in another, without saying the longer one starts after probation, the longer period applies from the first day (BAG, 23rd March 2017, 6 AZR 705/15). Choose "the contract's notice clause applies from day one" in that case.

Garden leave (Freistellung)

Garden leave doesn't shorten the notice period. You stay employed until the last day, you're paid, and you remain bound by the ban on working for a competitor while employed. For commercial employees that ban is set out in § 60 HGB, and for all other employees it follows from the general duty of loyalty. Starting a new job before the end date needs the old employer's consent, usually through a termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag) that brings the end date forward.

Holiday is used up during garden leave only if the release is irrevocable and is paid (BAG, 10th February 2015, 9 AZR 455/13), and the release should say that holiday is being credited. Holiday that can't be granted before the end has to be paid out (§ 7 (4) BUrlG). If your employer releases you unilaterally during the notice period, you're not obliged to take another job before the end date just to reduce what the employer owes you (BAG, 12th February 2025, 5 AZR 127/24).

Post-contractual non-compete and Karenzentschädigung

A non-compete that applies after the employment ends is governed by §§ 74 to 75f HGB, which § 110 GewO extends to all employees. The rules that drive the numbers:

• It must be agreed in writing, and the employer must hand over a signed copy (§ 74 (1) HGB).
• It binds only if the employer pays compensation for its whole duration of at least half the contractual benefits you last received, for each year of the ban (§ 74 (2) HGB). Bonuses and other variable pay are averaged over the last three years (§ 74b (2) HGB). The calculator adds fixed salary, average bonus and benefits in kind such as a company car.
• It can't run longer than two years after the end of employment (§ 74a (1) HGB).
• The compensation is paid at the end of each month (§ 74b (1) HGB).
• Income from new work is offset only where compensation plus new income would exceed 110% of your previous contractual benefits, or 125% if the ban forces you to move home (§ 74c HGB).
• Before the employment ends, the employer can waive the ban in writing. You're free at once, and the employer still owes compensation until one year after the waiver (§ 75a HGB).

A non-compete that promises no compensation at all is void, and a severability clause doesn't rescue it (BAG, 22nd March 2017, 10 AZR 448/15). One that promises less than 50% is not binding on you. In that case you can, as a rule, choose to keep to it and claim the agreed amount, or ignore it. That choice has consequences, so take advice before you make it.

For Hiring Managers: planning a realistic start date

Ask for the exact wording of the notice clause early in the process, together with any non-compete. A three-month clause to the end of a quarter puts a candidate who signs in mid-January on a 1st July start. A six-month clause to the end of a quarter can add another quarter. Where the date matters, the realistic levers are a termination agreement with the current employer or a waiver of the non-compete. Both depend on the current employer, so treat them as an option to ask for and keep the contractual date in the plan.

If the candidate is joining a direct competitor, the earliest possible date may be the day after the non-compete ends. Ticking the non-compete box shows both dates.

Austria and Switzerland work differently

This calculator applies German law. In Austria, employers give salaried employees six weeks' notice in the first two years, rising to two months from the third year, three from the sixth, four from the 16th and five from the 26th, ending at a quarter end unless the contract allows the 15th or the end of a month. Employees give one month to the end of a month, which a contract can extend to up to six months (WKO overview). A post-contractual non-compete in Austria lasts one year at most and applies only above a monthly pay threshold that changes every year (§ 36 AngG).

In Switzerland, the statutory notice is seven days during probation, then one month in the first year of service, two months from the second to the ninth year and three months after that, in each case to the end of a month (Art. 335b and 335c OR, SECO). Compensation isn't a legal requirement for a Swiss non-compete, which can last up to three years in normal circumstances (Art. 340a OR).

What the calculator can't know

• Collective agreements, works agreements and special protection against dismissal, for example during pregnancy, parental leave or for severely disabled employees.
• Extraordinary termination without notice (§ 626 BGB) and fixed-term contracts.
• Contract wording that is unclear or invalid. The calculator takes your entries at face value.
• Regional public holidays, and whether a letter really arrived on the day you think it did.

Sources

Statutes, consolidated texts on gesetze-im-internet.de: § 622 BGB; § 623 BGB; § 187 BGB; § 188 BGB; § 7 BUrlG; § 60 HGB; § 74 HGB; § 74a HGB; § 74b HGB; § 74c HGB; § 75a HGB; § 110 GewO.

Case law: BAG, 23rd March 2017, 6 AZR 705/15; BAG, 22nd March 2017, 10 AZR 448/15; BAG, 10th February 2015, 9 AZR 455/13; BAG press release on 5 AZR 127/24, 12th February 2025; CJEU, 19th January 2010, C-555/07, Kücükdeveci; BAG, 5th March 1970, BAGE 22, 304, and BGH, 17th February 2005, III ZR 172/04, on § 193 BGB.

Austria and Switzerland: WKO, Kündigungsfristen; SECO, FAQ Kündigung; Swiss Code of Obligations on Fedlex.

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Change log

• 14th November 2026: first edition, checked against the legal texts and the case law listed above.

Frequently asked questions

When does my notice have to arrive if I want to leave at the end of a quarter?

With three months to the end of a quarter, notice must arrive by 31st December 2026 to leave on 31st March 2027, and by 31st March, 30th June or 30th September 2027 for the following quarter ends. With six weeks to the end of a quarter, the latest dates in 2027 are 17th February, 19th May, 19th August and 19th November.

Does garden leave shorten the notice period?

No. During garden leave you stay employed and paid until the last day of the notice period, and you may not work for a competitor in that time. Starting a new job earlier needs your employer's consent, usually in a termination agreement that moves the end date forward.

How much Karenzentschädigung does a post-contractual non-compete have to pay?

At least half of the contractual benefits you last received, for each year of the ban, paid monthly (§ 74 (2) and § 74b HGB). Variable pay is averaged over the last three years. Income from a new job is offset only where compensation plus new income would exceed 110% of your previous benefits, or 125% if the ban forces you to move (§ 74c HGB).

Can my employer get out of paying for a non-compete?

Only by waiving it in writing before the employment ends. You're then free to work for a competitor at once, and the employer still owes the compensation until one year after the waiver (§ 75a HGB). A non-compete without any promised compensation is void from the start (BAG, 22nd March 2017, 10 AZR 448/15).

This page gives general information on German employment law as of 14th November 2026 and isn't legal advice for your individual case. MoreThanCareer.de offers no legal services.