Monday is already the least favorite day of the week for many people. But now a current study shows that the risk of termination is highest at the beginning of the week.
Monday is cancellation day number one
The 2025 Termination Atlas from the legal tech portal Allright shows that 23.2 percent of all terminations in Germany are given on a Monday. This is significantly more than on any other day of the week. Wednesday (20.6 percent) and Tuesday (19.8 percent) follow at some distance.
One can only speculate about the reasons for these clusters. Labor law experts suspect that the increased number of dismissals on Monday could be due to the fact that employers prefer to deal with unpleasant conversations at the beginning of the week. Another reason could be that employers give themselves a period of time to think about it over the weekend. Interesting: Even on weekends, employees are not safe – 1.4 percent of terminations take place on Saturdays, 0.8 percent on Sundays.
The end of the month is a critical time
The pattern becomes even clearer when viewed within a month. According to the Termination Atlas, over half of all terminations (51.6 percent) are given at the end of the month. In the middle of the month it is 29.5 percent, while only 18.9 percent of terminations occur in the first ten days of a month.
This distribution is not a coincidence, but is directly related to legal and contractual notice periods. These usually provide for the termination of the employment relationship at the end of a month. For employees, this means: Particular caution is required at the end of the month if unusual appointments or conversations are coming up.
The gender pay gap is also evident in severance pay
The analysis of 2,500 real dismissal cases also reveals gender-specific differences. At 61 percent, men are more likely to be affected by layoffs than women. However, men who have been laid off fare much better financially: they receive an average of 5,082 euros in severance pay, while women only receive 4,317 euros.
These differences reflect the general gender pay gap. At the time of termination, men earned an average of 4,546 euros gross, while women only earned 3,230 euros – a difference of more than 1,300 euros per month. For women, this not only means lower severance payments, but also lower claims for unemployment benefits.
D. Maier / editorial team finanzen.net