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I’m confused — how is this legally binding?

In Germany, a termination is valid IFF the termination has been submitted to the employee in writing in a timely manner — that is, they need to have been able to receive it before end of month or it’ll delay the notice period by a month. The standard notice period is 3 months. (I had to do this quite a few times recently unfortunately).

Are worker rights really this bad in the US?

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Yeah, employment in the US is at-will, meaning employees can be dismissed at any time without cause, and no advanced notice is required.

Here's a post on Reddit that describes the flip side of this coin https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/s9yu11/resigning_w...

Overall it's just different societies making different trade-offs. The US values market efficiency, Germany stability.

To be fair, I've submitted multiple requests for a fristlose Kündigung in Germany and never had it declined. Unless your role is absolutely critical to the company and a replacement must be thoroughly trained, most employers would be happy to oblige. As it turns out, it's expensive for the company to keep paying someone who's effectively "checked out" for 3+ months after they submit notice.

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