Severance Pay at Trumpf – Your Rights During Job Cuts

Job Cuts at Trumpf: The Current Situation

Ditzingen-based machine tool and laser technology maker Trumpf is feeling the ongoing economic downturn keenly. On 9 May 2025, the company announced it would cut around 1,000 jobs worldwide, in response to cautious customer investment and falling order intake (Handelsblatt; produktion.de).

This is an announced plan. The specific approach is being negotiated with the works council (Betriebsrat), with a goal of making the cuts as socially responsible as possible. What this means for your severance pay (Abfindung) depends on your individual situation.

The Numbers at a Glance

• Around 1,000 jobs worldwide are set to be cut (announced May 2025).
• Around 430 of roughly 6,200 jobs at the German home sites (company figures).
• Sites: Ditzingen (headquarters), Gerlingen, Leonberg-Höfingen, Hettingen.
• Previously: a collectively agreed reduction in working hours under TV Beschäftigungssicherung (around 2,750 employees, minus ten percent working hours) and pay cuts (around 1,400 employees) in exchange for job security, with no short-time work involved.
• Around 19,000 employees group-wide, about 9,500 of them in Germany.

As of: September 2026. Figures based on publicly available reports (as of the May 2025 announcement).

Your Rights at a Glance

Important to know first: German law grants no general right to severance pay (Abfindung), only in exceptional cases (for example, an offer under § 1a KSchG). Usually, severance pay results from negotiation, a social plan, or a settlement. These points matter most:

• Social plan: A social plan (§§ 111, 112 BetrVG) can be enforced directly through the conciliation committee (§ 112 para. 4 BetrVG), meaning the works council (Betriebsrat) can force it through.
• Compensation for disadvantage: If the employer departs from an agreed reconciliation of interests without compelling reason, a claim for compensation under § 113 BetrVG can arise. This is tied to the reconciliation of interests, not the social plan.
• Claim deadline: You must file an unfair dismissal claim within three weeks of receiving notice (§ 4 KSchG). After that, the dismissal is treated as valid.
• Unemployment benefit: A termination agreement can trigger a benefit suspension period (Sperrzeit) under § 159 SGB III. This differs from a suspension of entitlement when severance is paid without observing the notice period (§ 158 SGB III).
• Tax: The one-fifth rule (Fünftelregelung, § 34 EStG) can reduce the tax burden on severance pay where income is bunched into one year. Since 1 January 2025, it is no longer applied via payroll but only in the income tax assessment.

The common rule of thumb (half a gross monthly salary per year of employment) is only a reference point, not an entitlement. Actual severance payments can be well above or below it.

Checking an Offer

Before you accept a termination agreement or voluntary offer, we typically check:

• Is the severance amount calculated correctly (gross salary, years of service, bonus shares)?
• Are release from work, remaining holiday, outstanding bonus claims and your reference properly settled?
• How does accepting it affect your unemployment benefit (benefit suspension period under § 159 SGB III), pension, and tax (one-fifth rule)?
• What is legally binding regarding any ongoing reduced working hours or pay cuts?

If You Are Dismissed

If Trumpf issues an operational dismissal, the 3-week deadline under § 4 KSchG applies. At a large, collectively bound company with a works council (Betriebsrat), the prospects for an unfair dismissal claim are generally good, and proceedings often end in a settlement including severance pay. The Stuttgart Labour Court is usually responsible for the home sites.

How Team Abfindung Works

1. Free initial consultation: we review your offer or dismissal.
2. Instructing us: litigation funding with no upfront payment (RDG).
3. Negotiation through our partner law firm, MK Law.
4. A claim if necessary at Stuttgart Labour Court or the relevant court.
5. Settlement or judgment, usually severance pay agreed at the preliminary hearing.

Note: Team Abfindung is an independent service provider with no business connection to TRUMPF SE + Co. KG. All information on the job cuts is based on publicly available reports (as of: September 2026).