The first question here is not how much you are owed but whether the event has occurred from which the law starts counting. Before it the mechanism does not apply at all; after it the clock runs fast.
What counts as the insolvency event and which months are paid
The entitlement arises not from rumours of collapse but from one of three statutory events. The last three months of employment before it are covered.
✓ Verified: 02/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
AUTHORITY
Agentur für Arbeit (Bundesagentur für Arbeit)
Public bodyUnemployment benefit I, start-up grants and job placement all run through the Agentur für Arbeit where you live. Find your branch under «Dienststelle vor Ort».
DOCUMENTS 3
› Details and tips
👩🏼💼
Lea recommends:
Put the date of the event in your calendar as soon as you learn it. Both the three covered months and the hard application deadline run from it — and people often hear of it late.
👨🏻💻
Max recommends:
I waited six months for the company to pay and only then heard about this benefit. By that point the three covered months were quite different from what I had assumed.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Which period does this payment cover? ▾
The law speaks of claims to pay for the three months of the employment relationship preceding the insolvency event. So not three months of your choosing and not the whole arrears, but precisely the last three before the event.
What counts as an insolvency event? ▾
Three cases are named: the opening of insolvency proceedings over the employer assets, the rejection of the application for want of assets, and the complete cessation of business operations. Before one of these occurs there is no entitlement yet.
My employer simply stopped paying — is that enough? ▾
No. Unpaid wages alone are not an insolvency event, however long the wait. Until then it is an ordinary claim against the employer rather than this benefit.
Which claims are excluded? ▾
The law expressly excludes claims arising because of the termination of the employment relationship or for the period after it ended. Severance-type amounts and money for time after the end do not run through this route.