Employment Law2026-09-30

Do I have to tell my former employer which jobs the job centre offered me?

Your former employer is demanding details of the employment agency's job referrals so it can reduce the pay you are owed for the notice period. Here is what you must disclose — and what you need not.

You are in dispute with your former employer over the pay for the period following your dismissal. Then, out of the blue, a letter arrives with a list of questions: which jobs did the employment agency refer you to, at what salary, where, and for how many hours? You are not sure whether you have to answer. And you have a genuine worry that answering could cost you money.

In short

Yes, but only within narrow limits. You must disclose what kind of work you were referred to, with what working hours, in which location and at what pay. Your former employer needs these four pieces of information to assess whether earnings should be offset against the pay you are owed for the notice period. Whether you actually applied for those positions, however, is something you do not have to volunteer. The same goes for what then happened with any application. That only becomes relevant if, during proceedings, your employer accuses you of deliberately failing to take up a reasonable position.

How I can help

I check whether your employer’s request for information oversteps the legal limits
I draft your reply so that you meet your obligation without giving away more than you have to
I represent you against the accusation that you deliberately turned down a reasonable position
I guide you through the unfair dismissal claim and the wider dispute over the pay owed for the notice period

What your employer is entitled to know — and what it is not

I have already explained the basics of pay owed during the notice period — the requirements, the amount, the deadlines — in my article Pay owed after an unfair dismissal claim. Here I look at one particular aspect of that: how far your duty to disclose the employment agency’s job referrals really goes.

The claim in question is not a standalone statutory right to information; it is an expression of good faith under § 242 BGB. Without these details, your employer cannot judge whether it is entitled to offset anything. That is why the law gives it a right to precisely the information it needs for that purpose. In practical terms, you owe disclosure of

the type of work offered,
the intended working hours,
the place of work, and
the pay that the position would have carried.

These four points allow your employer to assess whether the position was reasonable and comparable to the work you did before. Only then can it rely on offsetting earnings at all. Anything going beyond these key facts is not covered by this right to information.

Why this differs from the question about your applications

Whether you actually applied for a referred position is, in law, a separate matter from the information about the position itself. Outside of court proceedings, your employer has no right of its own to have you disclose how you went about applying for work.

Within proceedings over pay owed for the notice period, this changes. To succeed, your employer has to set out two things: that you were referred to a reasonable position, and that you deliberately failed to pursue it. If it makes that case in tangible terms, a secondary burden of explanation falls on you. That means you must explain what you did with the referral — applied, declined, and for what reason. This is a procedural duty to respond to a concrete, substantiated accusation. It is not a standalone right to information that your employer could enforce before proceedings even begin. The legal basis for the offsetting itself is § 615 Satz 2 BGB. Where unfair dismissal proceedings are already under way, § 11 Nr. 2 KSchG applies in addition. Both provisions allow your employer to offset earnings that you deliberately failed to obtain.

Where the line lies — what you do not have to answer

In practice, an employer’s request often goes further than the right to information reaches. In particular, you do not have to:

explain why you turned down a position. That is part of the accusation of deliberate omission, which your employer must itself set out and prove if it comes to a dispute;
produce application documents, rejection letters or interview notes;
complete a questionnaire covering every application that does not stem from a specific referral by the employment agency;
give information about openings that reached you not through the employment agency but, say, privately or via a job portal.

If your employer demands more than the four key facts per referral, you are entitled to decline to answer. That may not automatically be held against you in proceedings.

What happens if you refuse to answer or answer incorrectly

If you wrongly refuse the disclosure you owe about the type of work, working hours, location and pay of a referral, that can harm you in proceedings. Your employer can have your failure to cooperate treated as an indication that the position was reasonable and comparable. In the most extreme case, it can sue for the information. Conversely, legitimately declining to answer questions that go beyond the right to information — such as questions about how you went about applying for work generally — does not, on its own, count against you. Giving incorrect answers about the key facts you do owe, on the other hand, is risky. If a false statement comes to light during proceedings, it weakens your position as a whole. It also undermines the credibility of everything else you have put forward.

A typical case from practice

A woman brings an unfair dismissal claim after being made redundant and, at the same time, claims pay for the months following her dismissal. Her employer responds in writing, demanding a complete list of all the employment agency’s referrals, together with proof of every application and an explanation of why she accepted none of the positions. At first the client discloses nothing, fearing that she will incriminate herself. In fact, she owes the four key facts for each referral — type of work, working hours, location, pay — but not the proof of applications demanded or an explanation of her decision. That only changes when her employer makes a concrete case in the proceedings: that one of the positions offered was reasonable and that she deliberately failed to take it up. As part of her secondary burden of explanation, she must then set out what happened with that one referral.

Common mistakes

Clients volunteer all of their application documents, even though only four key facts per referral are owed.
Clients stay silent altogether out of caution, even on the points they are in fact required to disclose. In doing so, they create for themselves the very disadvantage in proceedings that they were trying to avoid.
Clients explain, unprompted, why they turned a position down. But that is for the employer to raise: it must set it out and prove it if it comes to a dispute.
Clients mix the employment agency’s referrals with their own voluntary applications and report on matters they were never asked about.

Your next step

If you are in the middle of a dispute like this over pay for the notice period and your employer comes at you with a far-reaching request for information, it is worth keeping the overall course of the case before the labour court in view. The two issues are, after all, connected. You can read more under Unfair dismissal claim. Tell me about your case and I will look at the request for information in detail and tell you what you have to answer and what you do not.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to say why I did not accept a position I was offered?

No, not of your own accord. The reason for a refusal is part of the accusation of deliberate omission, which your employer must itself set out and prove if it comes to a dispute. Only once it does so in concrete terms does your secondary burden of explanation apply. You must then explain what happened with the referral in question.

What about positions I applied for voluntarily, without the employment agency having referred me?

The right to information described here does not extend to those. It concerns only the employment agency’s job referrals, not how you go about applying for work generally.

Can my employer obtain the referrals directly from the employment agency?

As a rule, not without your consent. Your data held by the employment agency is protected by the duty of social confidentiality under § 35 SGB I, which in principle blocks it from being passed on to third parties. Your employer is therefore dependent on the information you provide yourself.

Does the same apply if I receive benefits from the Jobcenter rather than the employment agency?

The underlying principle is the same. Referrals from the Jobcenter can likewise concern earnings that may be offset. Here too, you owe only the key facts of the position offered, not how you went about applying for work. The data protection limit as against your employer applies equally, because the Jobcenter is also bound by the duty of social confidentiality.

What if my employer claims I never properly registered as unemployed with the employment agency?

That is, in the first instance, a matter between you and the employment agency, not directly a question of your duty to disclose to your employer. It can, however, feed into the accusation that you did not make sufficient efforts to earn interim income. That, too, is a point your employer must then set out and prove in concrete terms.

Dieser Beitrag ist allgemeine Information und ersetzt keine Rechtsberatung im Einzelfall.

Wait — I should give the disclaimer in English, translated. Let me correct that.

This article provides general information and is no substitute for legal advice in an individual case. Last updated: 2026-09-30.

Christian Czirnich, Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law), Kirchseeon near Munich

Tell me what the employer wants to know from you – I will look into it.

I read every message myself and usually reply on the next working day. What you write to me is covered by legal professional privilege from the first word, even if no engagement comes about. The initial assessment is free of charge.