Sickness notification: What you should mind and know

• Definition, Explanation
• Tips, Checklist

A sickness notification is your notifying your employer of your sickness-caused inability to work and to be present at work. In case you are being paid unemployment allowance, you have to notify the federal labour agency. As an employee, you receive a continued payment during your sickness for a maximum of 6 weeks, after that sickness benefits. As an unemployed, you continue to receive for a maximum of 6 weeks the unemployment benefit, after that, health insurance pays you a sickness benefit in the amount of the unemployment benefit.

• Notify your employer of your inability to work on the first day of sickness before 11 o’clock, respectively within the first hours of work, by phone, fax or email. Also inform them about the estimated duration of your sickness. This gives the employer the opportunity to intercept a stoppage. If you violate this notification obligation regulation several times, you risk being warned by an “Abmahnung”, respectively being dismissed
• 3 days after that at the latest, you have to hand in a doctor’s certificate of your inability to work. Mind your employment contract, company agreement or collective agreement which may set earlier deadlines. If you certify late, your employer is entitled to cease payment of wage
• If the sickness takes longer than announced in the medical certificate, then a new certificate must be brought
• You have to follow your doctor’s instructions. Otherwise you sustain the period of your inability to work and are no longer entitled to continued payment for the extension period
• If the employer doubts your inability to work, he can obtain an expert’s evaluation from the medical service of your health insurance. Doubts are especially justified if the employee sickens on certain days of the week like Mondays, Thursdays or Fridays. The employer must state his doubts along with a reason
• If you are requested by the health insurance’s medical service to attend a doctor in charge, you have to do it. Otherwise you can be warned, “abgemahnt”
• Entitlement to continued payment is given in a job as soon as you have worked there for more than 4 weeks continuously
• Pretending to be sick is regarded defraud or attempt to defraud and can result in instant dismissal. Consequences will be more serious if you continue to work in a side job while you are “sick”
• During your sickness, you are allowed to go out of the house and you do not have to be constantly available by phone
• Frequent short-time absence of an employee, like long-term sickness, is a legal person-related reason for an employer to dismiss the employee. For this, though, a doctor has to explicitly make a negative prognosis concerning your future state of health. If company processes are severely affected by your absence, dismissal for operational reasons is feasible
• Generally, you are obliged to do everything you can for your convalescence. Thus it is not advisable to go to work despite sickness. If sickness takes longer for this reason, continued payment can be ceased for additional days of sickness
• By virtue of his duty of care (“Fürsorgepflicht”, §§ 241 Abs. 2, 617-619 BGB), the employer can exempt you when you are sick
• Company-regulations concerning the employees’ notification obligation and early dealines for handing in sick-certificates are subject to co-determination of the works council
• You are not obliged to give your employer the diagnosis. Exceptions are contagious diseases and diseases justifying claims due to someone else’s fault
• Notify your employer of your sickness, even if you sicken on holiday. Give them address including a phone number via which you can be reached. If your health insurance is the statutory one, they also have to be informed. This way, you can reduce your days of taken vacation by the sick-days
• If your sickness is caused through someone else’s fault, give his or her address to your employer. Your employer then can claim him/her the continued payment you get. If you do not pass on the address, they can cease payment