Severance pay at Wacker Chemie: what matters now

Job cuts at Wacker Chemie: the current situation

The Munich-based chemicals group Wacker Chemie AG is, like the entire energy-intensive chemicals sector, under cost and competitive pressure. In October 2025, the company announced its worldwide cost and efficiency programme "PACE", intended to cut costs by more than €300 million a year (chemie.de; K-Zeitung).

In May 2026, company management and employee representatives agreed a socially responsible implementation plan: around 1,600 jobs in Germany are to be cut by the end of 2027. This is an announced, planned figure, not job cuts that have already taken place.

The figures at a glance

• Around 1,600 jobs in Germany (implementation plan from May 2026, programme running since October 2025).
• Burghausen: around 1,300 jobs (WACKER's largest site worldwide).
• Nünchritz: around 200 jobs.
• Munich (headquarters): around 60 jobs; around 50 more across other German sites combined.
• Solidarity contribution: 4% reduction in working hours and pay for all employees in Germany until 2028.
• PACE savings target: more than €300 million a year.

No compulsion, but offers worth checking

What sets Wacker apart: under the agreement, the job cuts are being carried out without operational dismissals, through a voluntary programme involving partial retirement and termination agreements. In practice, this means nobody is dismissed, but many people receive an offer. A termination agreement is legally something quite different from a dismissal: you are voluntarily giving up your protection against dismissal. That is why having it checked before you sign is so important. A termination agreement should never be signed without a prior review.

Your rights in the programme

Before you accept an offer, we typically check:

• Is the severance pay reasonable? As a reference point, we use the rule of thumb (0.5 monthly salaries per year), a guideline, not a statutory entitlement.
• Are release from duties, remaining holiday, any outstanding bonus entitlement, and a qualified reference letter properly regulated?
• Is there a risk of a benefit suspension period for unemployment benefit (§ 159 SGB III)? This is separate from the suspension of entitlement (§ 158 SGB III).
• How does the one-fifth rule apply (§ 34 EStG, since 1 January 2025 only through the tax assessment, provided there is a bunching of income)?
• Would partial retirement work out better for you overall than a termination agreement?

If a dismissal happens after all

At present, operational dismissals are excluded. Should a dismissal nonetheless be issued at a later stage, the three-week deadline under § 4 KSchG applies from the date the dismissal is received. Missing it usually means losing the chance to bring an unfair dismissal claim. There is no automatic entitlement to severance pay in this situation either; it is usually the result of negotiation or a settlement reached in court.

How we proceed at Team Abfindung

1. Initial consultation at no cost: we review your termination agreement or partial-retirement offer.
2. Engagement: litigation funding with no upfront payment.
3. Negotiation through our partner law firm MK Law.
4. Legal claim if necessary at the competent labour court (for Burghausen, for example, the Traunstein Labour Court; for the headquarters, the Munich Labour Court).
5. Settlement or judgment, often severance pay agreed at the preliminary hearing.

Note: Team Abfindung is an independent service provider with no business relationship to Wacker Chemie AG; the company is mentioned here purely for the information of affected employees.