Severance Pay at BMW 2026 – Severance Programme & Your Rights

Job cuts at BMW: what’s happening right now?

BMW is cutting around 8,000 jobs worldwide. According to reports from July 2026, those affected are mostly office jobs in indirect areas, administration, research and development, with a focus on company headquarters and the Research and Innovation Centre in Munich (electrive.net, 30 July 2026; dpa-AFX, 29 July 2026). Direct production is excluded. According to reports, the goal is savings of around one billion euros per year from 2028.

What matters for those affected is the approach BMW has chosen: no job cuts through operational dismissals, but rather through a severance programme, partial retirement, and leaving vacant positions unfilled. The company has agreed on this with the works council (Betriebsrat).

The severance programme from October 2026

The programme runs from October 2026 to the end of 2027. Around 40,000 of the roughly 85,000 permanent employees in Germany are expected to be eligible for individual severance offers. A sum in the hundreds of millions of euros has been budgeted for this year alone, with a total of around one billion euros reportedly set aside (electrive.net).

Important: you are not required to accept any offer, and the programme does not create an entitlement to a specific amount. BMW has not published a severance formula. According to reports, the amount is based on length of service and salary, meaning it is calculated case by case, which is exactly why there is room to negotiate.

Your rights: social plan, termination agreement, protection against dismissal

For a change of this scale, the employer must negotiate a reconciliation of interests and a social plan (Sozialplan) with the works council (§ 111 BetrVG, § 112 BetrVG). The social plan compensates for economic disadvantages and sets a framework. An individually offered termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag) can fall below or above it and is negotiable.

If, contrary to this commitment, an operational dismissal is issued after all, the strict three-week deadline applies: an unfair dismissal claim (Kündigungsschutzklage) must reach the labour court within three weeks of receiving the dismissal (§ 4 KSchG). After that, the dismissal is deemed valid, no matter how questionable it was. If the employer offers severance pay in exchange for waiving the claim, that falls under § 1a KSchG, with 0.5 month’s salary per year of service as a minimum benchmark, not a ceiling.

How much severance pay can you expect at BMW?

There is no published BMW formula, so here is just the common reference calculation. The rule of thumb is 0.5 month’s gross salary per year of service. For a typical case in the affected indirect areas, €6,500 gross, 18 years of service, this works out as:

0.5 × €6,500 × 18 = €58,500 gross.

This is a reference figure, not an entitlement. Factors that can push it up include: long service, age, severe disability, parental leave or works council duties, a questionable social selection, and, especially relevant here, the employer’s decision to rule out operational dismissals. If BMW needs your signature to cut your role, that is your leverage. Short service and a clearly justified business decision tend to push it down. Work through your case in our severance calculator, including the one-fifth rule and your net amount.

Received an offer from BMW? Check it before you sign

Things to check: the amount relative to your age, length of service and chances in court, the risk of a benefit suspension period for unemployment benefit (§ 159 SGB III, § 158 SGB III), the waiver and settlement clauses (bonuses, variable pay, company pension schemes, leased and company cars), and the tax treatment: for larger packages, the payout timing determines whether the one-fifth rule applies (§ 34 EStG). Because the programme runs until the end of 2027, which calendar year your severance pay is paid out in can be worth real money at BMW. Upload your document and we’ll flag the critical points, no upfront cost to you. More on this topic: termination agreements, the three-week deadline, benefit suspension periods and social plans and severance pay.

How it works with us

An initial consultation with no upfront cost, assessment of your offer by our specialised partner law firm, and if you instruct us, negotiation funded through litigation financing, with no upfront cost risk to you. See how the cost model works.

Note: Team Abfindung is an independent provider and has no connection to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.