Overview
- Courts recognize the suspicion-based dismissal under narrow conditions and it may be issued as an ordinary or an immediate termination.
- Employers must present objective facts establishing an urgent suspicion and they must question the employee in an open, non-prejudged hearing.
- Works councils must be consulted in writing before dismissal, with one week for ordinary cases and three days for extraordinary cases to respond.
- Proportionality applies, so employers must consider milder measures first, and employees have three weeks to file a dismissal protection claim challenging each notice.
- An acquittal does not automatically void the dismissal, and although a right to reinstatement exists, cases typically end in severance settlements because prosecutions are rare or discontinued and trust is usually broken.