Deutsche Post Scanning Flaw Leaves Employers Without Proof of Dismissal Delivery, Court Rules

A technical quirk in the way Deutsche Post documents registered mail has cost German employers a long-held legal safeguard. The Federal Labour Court (BAG) ruled on 7 May 2026 that the electronic scan generated during delivery of an Einwurf-Einschreiben — a recorded letter dropped into the recipient’s mailbox — does not create a presumption of receipt. The scan is triggered the moment the postal worker stands at the mailbox, before the letter is actually inserted. It therefore proves the carrier’s presence, not the successful deposit.

The decision (case reference 2 AZR 184/25) deals a blow to companies that had relied on this method to serve dismissals, formal warnings, time limits, cancellations and invitations to a Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement (BEM) — the workplace reintegration process required before a sickness-based termination can proceed. When an employee disputes receipt, the employer now bears the full burden of proof.

The ruling emerged from a case in which a business failed to satisfactorily demonstrate that an employee had received a BEM invitation. The court consequently invalidated the sickness-related dismissal that followed. Any break in the chain of evidence can render such firings void and open the door to back-pay claims.

Regional labour courts are already applying the same strict standards. In a judgement from 23 October 2025 (case 6 SLa 184/25), the Higher Labour Court of Cologne struck down a termination because the employer had not properly resolved contradictory statements from a colleague about the BEM process. Minor procedural slips, combined with insufficient follow-up questions, increasingly expose sickness-based dismissals to legal challenge.

Three Safer Alternatives for Serving Documents

Employment lawyers now recommend abandoning registered mail for critical workplace correspondence. The most secure methods are:

• In-person handover: A manager or HR representative gives the document to the employee in the presence of a witness, ideally with a written receipt.
• Courier delivery: A courier inserts the document and records the time and location; the courier can later testify.
• Bailiff service (Gerichtsvollzieher): The most expensive option but legally unassailable.

Broader Cracks in Employer Protection

Two additional recent rulings tighten the screws. On 18 June 2026 the BAG (case 2 AZR 213/25) reinforced dismissal protection during parental leave. The protective effect renews itself before each new segment of parental leave, even when parents apply for several segments in a single request. Without prior consent from the state labour authority, a termination is void regardless of company size or probationary period.

Meanwhile, a decision by the Kassel Labour Court on 27 January 2026 (case 9 Ca 262/25) makes it harder for employers to rely on electronic sick notes (eAU) as conclusive proof of illness. The court ruled that the evidentiary value of an eAU can be shaken: in the case at hand, an employee called in sick immediately after a works meeting and remained absent until the end of a fixed-term contract. Those temporal coincidences were enough to raise doubts.

One in Two Dismissed Workers Gets No Severance

Despite the increasingly complex legal landscape, most conflicts never reach a courtroom. A survey conducted in April 2026 among 6,000 respondents found that roughly 62% of dismissed employees accept the first severance offer. Only 16% either negotiate or reject it outright. Nearly half of those let go receive no severance payment at all. Where payments are made, the informal benchmark remains 0.5 monthly salaries per year of service.

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