Sick Leave in Germany: Your Rights and Duties Explained

JobChamp Guide · Updated July 17, 2026

When it comes to sick leave in Germany, you must tell your employer without delay (unverzüglich) that you are unable to work, and hand in a doctor's sick note (Krankschreibung/AU) by the next working day at the latest after your third day of illness, under Section 5 of the Continued Pay Act (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz, EntgFG). Your salary keeps running as normal for up to six weeks, as long as your employment had already lasted four weeks beforehand. After that, your health insurer (Krankenkasse) usually takes over with sick pay (Krankengeld).

Your notification duty: tell your employer right away

Under Section 5(1) of the Continued Pay Act, you must inform your employer without delay that you are unable to work and how long that is expected to last. "Without delay" means without culpable hesitation, so in practice, ideally before your shift starts, by phone, email, or a message to the right contact at your company.

This notification duty (Anzeigepflicht) already applies from your very first day of illness, regardless of whether you have already seen a doctor. A simple phone call is enough for this first step; a sick note is not required yet at this point.

Your proof duty: when the sick note is due

The doctor's sick note, formally a certificate of incapacity to work (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung, AU), informally known as the "gelber Schein" (yellow slip) and nowadays usually transmitted electronically, must be submitted by the next working day at the latest if your illness lasts longer than three calendar days. Your employer is, however, allowed to contractually require it from the first day of illness, which is legal and common practice at some companies.

Whether your own contract sets a stricter rule is worth checking directly in your paperwork; see our guide on employment contract clauses in Germany for what employers can and cannot require.

Continued pay: 6 weeks, but only after a waiting period

Under the Continued Pay Act, your employer keeps paying your regular salary for up to six weeks if you fall ill. The condition is that your employment relationship must already have lasted four uninterrupted weeks at that point. In the first four weeks of a new job, this full entitlement generally does not yet exist.

If your illness lasts longer than six weeks, payment from your employer ends, and your statutory health insurer usually takes over with sick pay. Importantly, if you fall ill with a new, medically unrelated illness within those six weeks, a new six-week period can start under certain conditions. Whether it counts as a new illness or the same one is a medical question, and in practice not always easy to draw the line on.

What you can and can't do while on sick leave

A sick note is not a curfew. You are generally allowed to leave the house, as long as it doesn't harm your recovery and is compatible with your medically certified illness.

• Usually fine: a short walk during a cold, necessary errands, doctor's appointments, quiet chores.
• Risky territory: sport or activities that visibly contradict the certified illness, for example jogging with an acute herniated disc.
• Generally off-limits: behaviour that actively delays your recovery or worsens your condition, such as partying all night with a feverish illness.

Your employer can also, in justified cases, ask the Medical Service (Medizinischer Dienst) to review your incapacity to work. That's a normal, legally provided process and not, by itself, an accusation against you.

Termination during sick leave

A dismissal during sick leave is generally possible; illness alone does not automatically protect you from being let go. With frequent or long absences, though, labour courts scrutinize closely in a dispute whether a so-called person-related dismissal (personenbedingte Kündigung) is actually justified, looking among other things at whether there's a negative future prognosis and whether milder measures were considered. If you do receive notice while off sick, our guide on what to do if you get fired in Germany walks through your next steps.

If you were sick for more than six weeks within a twelve-month period, your employer has probably already offered you a workplace reintegration program (betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, BEM), or will do so shortly. It's worth understanding what such a program involves and what rights you have during it before agreeing to anything.

Special cases: vacation, doubts, and common disputes

What happens to your vacation if you get sick

If you fall ill during your vacation, the medically certified sick days don't count as vacation. Report sick without delay just as you would on a normal working day, and submit your sick note within the usual deadlines, even if you're currently abroad. The affected vacation days are credited back to you and remain available at a later point. For the full picture on how illness interacts with your leave balance and forfeiture deadlines, see our guide on vacation days in Germany.

If your employer doubts your sick note

Occasionally employers react with suspicion, for example after very frequent short sick notes, or a sick note filed right after a rejected vacation request. A mere suspicion is not legally enough to withhold continued pay or issue a written warning. As long as a doctor's sick note exists, it carries significant evidentiary weight, which your employer can only undermine with concrete, verifiable indications, not with mere assumptions.

If you receive a warning over your sick leave in such a situation anyway, don't just accept it. Check carefully whether an actual duty was breached, such as a late notification, or whether it's really just the illness itself being criticized, which would not be allowed.

Common disputes around sick leave

In practice, most conflicts don't arise from the illness itself but from the formalities around it. Frequent points of contention include a late or incomplete notification, a sick note submitted after the deadline, an employer's doubts about the genuineness of an illness after conspicuously frequent short absences, and questions around visible activity on social media during sick leave. When in doubt, keep every exchange with your employer in writing; that saves you a "they said, I said" argument later on.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information and does not replace legal advice for your specific situation. For concrete disputes, your union, legal insurance, or an employment lawyer can help.