Severance at Bosch – What You Are Entitled To

Workforce reduction at Bosch: current picture

Bosch – like the entire automotive supplier industry – carries the weight of the shift to electric mobility. Diesel injection systems, legacy electronic control units and combustion-engine ancillaries are the biggest losers of this transition.

Since 2024 Bosch has announced workforce reductions in Germany in several tranches, focused on the Mobility business. The steps have been expanded repeatedly; further announcements followed in late 2024 and early 2025 (source: Bosch press releases; Handelsblatt; Süddeutsche Zeitung).

Employees at southern German sites are primarily affected. Most reductions are implemented in a socially acceptable way – through voluntary programmes, termination agreements and partial retirement.

Affected sites

• Schwieberdingen (Stuttgart area): large Mobility site.
• Feuerbach (Stuttgart): combustion-related production.
• Stuttgart-Vaihingen: Mobility development.
• Bühl (Baden-Württemberg): electric motors / Mobility.
• Hildesheim and Salzgitter (Lower Saxony): Mobility components.
• Schramberg, Reutlingen: partially.

Southern German employees are usually represented before the Stuttgart labour court or a neighbouring court, depending on the employer's seat.

IG Metall and Bosch works council

Bosch is tariff-bound under IG Metall, with a strong group works council and a pronounced co-determination culture. That works in your favour: social plans are usually well negotiated and benchmarks transparent.

Still – the individual offer is not automatically the maximum. We check that all components are correctly applied and identify the levers in your specific situation.

Typical social-plan components

• Core severance: 1.0 to 1.5 gross monthly salaries × years of service.
• Age-graduated base amounts.
• Premiums for disability, children, care obligations.
• "Turbo bonus" for fast acceptance (often €10,000 to €30,000 on top).
• Optional transfer company (re-training + pay for a defined period).

Evaluating a voluntary offer

For Bosch voluntary offers we typically check:

• Is the core amount correctly calculated (gross salary, years of service, bonus components)?
• Is the base amount correctly assigned (age group, family status)?
• Is the "turbo bonus" fully applied – or is there room left?
• Are remaining holiday, bonus and reference letter cleanly settled?
• What is the impact on unemployment benefit (waiting period), pension and tax (Fünftelregelung)?

If a dismissal is issued

If Bosch issues a compulsory redundancy in an individual case, the 3-week deadline under § 4 KSchG applies. At a strongly co-determined large employer the chances of success are usually high – most cases settle for a severance.

How your case runs with us

1. Free first call: we evaluate your offer or dismissal.
2. Engagement: litigation funding, no upfront payment.
3. Negotiation with Bosch HR: via our partner lawyers.
4. Litigation if needed at the competent labour court.
5. Settlement or judgement – usually a severance at the conciliation hearing.