What "Statutory Minimum" Means
Statutory notice periods are the floors set by national employment law — the shortest notice an employer can give an employee (or vice versa) without facing an unlawful termination claim. Collective labour agreements (CLAs or collective bargaining agreements) frequently extend these minimums. Individual contracts can also specify longer periods, but they cannot go below the statutory floor.
Two statutory floors exist in every country covered here: one for the employer giving notice and one for the employee giving notice. They are rarely symmetric.
Statutory Notice Periods Across 10 EU Countries
All figures are statutory minimums under national employment law as of 2026. CLA terms may be longer.
| Country | Employer Notice (by seniority) | Employee Notice | End-Date Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany (DE) | 4 weeks (<2 yrs) → 1 month (2 yrs) → up to 7 months (20+ yrs) | 4 weeks | Last day of calendar month |
| France (FR) | 1 month (<2 yrs), 2 months (2+ yrs) | 1 month (non-cadres), 3 months (cadres) | None statutory |
| Netherlands (NL) | 1 month (<5 yrs) → 2 months (5–10 yrs) → 3 months (10–15 yrs) → 4 months (15+ yrs) | 1 month | Last day of calendar month |
| Spain (ES) | 15 days (objective dismissal); no advance notice for unfair individual dismissal (compensation instead) | 15 days | None statutory |
| Italy (IT) | Varies by CCNL sector agreement; typically 15 days–4 months | Mirrors employer notice | Per CCNL |
| Poland (PL) | 2 weeks (<6 months) → 1 month (6 months–3 yrs) → 3 months (3+ yrs) | Same as employer | None statutory |
| Belgium (BE) | Calculated in weeks: approx. seniority in weeks divided by 2, rounded up; ~13 weeks at 10 yrs | 4–13 weeks (by seniority) | None statutory |
| Austria (AT) | 6 weeks (yr 1) → 2 months (2–5 yrs) → 3 months (5–15 yrs) → 4 months (15–25 yrs) → 5 months (25+ yrs) | 1 month | Quarter day or 15th/last of month |
| Sweden (SE) | 1 month (<2 yrs) → 2 months (2–4 yrs) → up to 6 months (10+ yrs) | 1 month | None statutory |
| Portugal (PT) | 15 days (<1 yr) → 30 days (1–5 yrs) → 60 days (5–10 yrs) → 75 days (10+ yrs) | 30 days (<2 yrs), 60 days (2+ yrs) | None statutory |
How Seniority Changes the Calculation
The most complex seniority ladders are in Germany and Belgium.
Germany under § 622 BGB uses a stepped system where the employer's notice obligation increases with each seniority bracket. An employee with exactly 20 years of service is entitled to seven months' notice — from an employer whose standard contractual notice is the statutory minimum. Note that years of service before age 25 are excluded from the seniority count under § 622(2) BGB. This means a 45-year-old who joined the company at age 20 has 25 years of employment but only 20 countable years, and receives six months' notice, not seven.
Belgium uses a formula introduced by the 2014 Act on a unified employment status. Notice weeks are calculated as follows: for the first five years of seniority, 3 weeks per started year; from year 6 onward, an additional 3 weeks per started year. A worker with 10 years' seniority is entitled to approximately 13 weeks from the employer. The employee's notice obligation runs on a parallel but compressed scale.
Poland applies a symmetric system: both employer and employee give the same statutory notice for the same seniority level. This is rare in the EU and simplifies termination planning for Polish employers.
Does Notice Run Through Public Holidays?
Generally, yes. Public holidays do not pause the notice clock in any of the 10 countries covered here. However, two effects are worth understanding:
End-date rules: Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria require notice to end on a specific calendar date (last day of the month, quarter day, etc.). If you serve notice on October 15 with a one-month period, the end date is not November 15 — it is November 30 (the last day of the month). A public holiday on November 15 is irrelevant to the end date.
Working-day counts in Poland: Poland's Labour Code (art. 36) measures the notice period in weeks and months, not working days. The period runs continuously, including weekends and holidays. However, a notice that would end on a Sunday or public holiday is extended to the next working day under art. 115 of the Polish Civil Code as applied to labour law.
Garden Leave (Freistellung)
Garden leave — releasing an employee from the obligation to attend work while their notice period runs and salary continues — is practiced across all 10 countries but is regulated differently:
- Germany: Freistellung is common and generally permitted. The employer must specify whether the leave is revocable or irrevocable. Remaining annual leave entitlement is counted off during garden leave.
- France: mise à pied conservatoire exists but is typically associated with disciplinary proceedings. Dispense de préavis (release from notice obligations) is standard.
- Netherlands: non-compete clauses frequently accompany garden leave. Courts scrutinise whether the employer's interest justifies restricting the employee's activities.
- Belgium and Sweden: permitted by mutual agreement; no statutory right for the employer to impose it without employee consent.
Summary Dismissal: When No Notice Is Required
Every EU country provides for immediate termination without notice (summary dismissal or dismissal for serious cause) where the employee's conduct is sufficiently grave. The threshold terminology varies:
| Country | Term | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | außerordentliche Kündigung | Important reason (wichtiger Grund); courts apply a strict proportionality test |
| France | faute grave / faute lourde | Gross misconduct; lourde requires intent to harm the employer |
| Netherlands | dringende reden | Urgent reason; exhaustive case law defines acceptable grounds |
| Spain | despido disciplinario | Disciplinary dismissal; grounds listed in Workers' Statute art. 54 |
| Poland | rozwiązanie umowy bez wypowiedzenia | Serious breach; also available to the employee if employer breaches obligations |
Summary dismissal eliminates the notice period but typically does not eliminate accrued holiday pay or, in many countries, a minimum severance entitlement.
Freelance vs Employment Contracts
Statutory notice rules do not apply to genuine self-employed arrangements. A freelance service agreement can specify any notice period — or none. Problems arise in two situations:
Disguised employment: If a "freelancer" works exclusively for one client, follows the client's instructions on hours and methods, and uses client equipment, labour authorities and courts will often reclassify the relationship as employment. The notice and severance consequences can be retroactive.
Long-running retainer relationships: Even where no employment relationship exists, courts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands have applied civil law doctrines of reasonable notice to commercial agreements that have run for years, awarding the terminating party damages for abrupt termination. Include an explicit notice clause in every service agreement that runs longer than three months.
Before you serve or accept notice on any EU employment contract, count the exact working days and verify the statutory end date with the EU Biz Tools Working Days Calculator. Select the relevant country's holiday calendar, input the notice start date, and get the precise end date — accounting for public holidays and end-of-month rules.