Dismissed while off sick — is my employer allowed to do that?

Being signed off sick does not shield you from dismissal — but nor does it make a dismissal valid. The hurdles a health-related dismissal must clear, why the reintegration procedure is the employer's weak spot, and the deadline that starts running at once.

The envelope arrives at the worst possible moment — just when you are already out of action: your fit-note is with the employer, you are at home getting better, and there in the letterbox is your notice of dismissal. Many people’s first instinct is that this must plainly be unlawful: “surely you can’t be dismissed while you’re signed off sick.” It is not that simple. Anyone who has received a dismissal while off sick has to act just as quickly as everyone else — but often holds a stronger hand than they realise.

In brief

A fit-note is not a ban on dismissal: your employer may dismiss you even while you are unfit for work. But equally, a dismissal does not become valid merely because it lands during a period of sick leave. What matters is whether you are being dismissed because of your illness — if so, the dismissal has to clear three stages: a negative health prognosis, a serious impairment of the employer’s operational interests, and a balancing of interests that comes down against you. These hurdles are high, and on top of that the required company reintegration procedure is often missing altogether. Quite separately, the three-week deadline for a claim for protection against dismissal starts running from the moment the notice reaches you (§ 4 sentence 1 Kündigungsschutzgesetz) — even from a sickbed.

How I can help you

• An immediate check of the deadline and the formalities (written form, signature, authority to act, consultation of the works council)
• Categorising your case: are you being dismissed because of the illness, or merely during it for some other reason?
• Working through the three stages against your record of absence — and whether a reintegration procedure was offered
• Checking any special protection against dismissal (severe disability, pregnancy, parental leave)
• The unfair-dismissal claim, negotiations over a severance payment, your reference and any release from duties
• Securing your income: continued pay, sickness benefit, timely registration with the employment agency — and I will handle the cover request to your legal-expenses insurer

Illness is not a shield — but it is not a free pass either

Employment law recognises no general ban on dismissing employees who are ill. Two entirely different situations have to be kept apart.

Dismissal during illness: the reason for the dismissal has nothing to do with your illness — the role is being cut, there was a warning, or the employment is still within its first six months. The fact that you happen to be signed off sick makes no difference to the assessment. The timing is unpleasant, but on its own it is not a ground for invalidity.

Dismissal because of illness: the employer relies on your absences or your reduced capacity to work. This is a person-related dismissal — and the strict standards set out in the next section apply to it.

For those standards to come into play at all, general protection against dismissal must be engaged: more than six months’ employment and a business large enough to meet the threshold in § 23 para. 1 Kündigungsschutzgesetz — as a rule, more than ten employees, with a lower threshold for older employment relationships. But even without general protection, the formal requirements, the notice period and any special protection remain open to challenge: severely disabled people and those treated as equivalent may only be dismissed with the prior consent of the Integration Office (§ 168 Sozialgesetzbuch IX); during pregnancy and after the birth § 17 Mutterschutzgesetz applies; and during parental leave § 18 Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz.

The three stages of a health-related dismissal

Where the employer bases the dismissal on your illness, the labour courts consistently examine three points — and all three must be satisfied:

1. A negative health prognosis. The decisive moment is when the dismissal reaches you: it must be expected that you will continue to be absent to a comparable extent in the future. Past absences are only one indicator of this. A cured condition, an operation you have come through, a cause that has been successfully treated — many dismissals founder here.
2. A serious impairment of operational interests. It is not enough that absences are a nuisance. The employer must set out concrete disruptions to the running of the business, or a substantial economic burden, for instance from repeated continued-pay obligations. An employer who has absorbed the absence with cover for years without difficulty will struggle at this point.
3. A balancing of interests. Length of service, age, maintenance obligations and the cause of the illness — above all, whether it was brought on by the work — can all tip the scales.

The courts typically distinguish four constellations: frequent short-term illnesses, a single long-lasting illness, permanent incapacity for work, and a health-related reduction in performance. The requirements differ considerably — which is why placing your case in the right category is the starting point of every assessment.

The weak spot: the company reintegration procedure

If, within a single year, you were unfit for work for more than six weeks — either continuously or repeatedly — the employer must offer you a company reintegration procedure (§ 167 para. 2 Sozialgesetzbuch IX). The point is to work out together how the incapacity can be overcome and the job preserved. This applies to all employees, not only to those with a severe disability.

Where that offer is missing, the dismissal is not automatically invalid — but the consequence is serious all the same: the employer must then set out and prove that even a proper procedure would have led to no milder option, that there was no post redesigned to suit your condition, no transfer, no alternative task. That is a heavy burden to discharge. In practice, health-related dismissals are decided precisely here.

Your income — and what to do in the first few days

The dismissal does not end the employment straight away, but only when the notice period expires. Until then your obligations continue: you must report and prove your incapacity for work without delay (§ 5 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz). Anyone who lets this slide because “I’ve been given notice anyway” is putting their income at risk.

The employer is in principle liable to continue paying you for up to six weeks (§ 3 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz). If it dismisses you on the occasion of your incapacity for work, that entitlement survives — the dismissal does not cut it short (§ 8 para. 1 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz). Thereafter, if you remain unfit for work, sickness benefit from your health insurance fund may come into play (§ 44 Sozialgesetzbuch V).

Two deadlines start running at once, whatever the state of your health:

• Three weeks for the unfair-dismissal claim, from the moment the written dismissal reaches you (§ 4 sentence 1 Kündigungsschutzgesetz). If it is missed, the dismissal is deemed valid from the outset (§ 7 Kündigungsschutzgesetz). A subsequent leave to bring the claim out of time (§ 5 Kündigungsschutzgesetz) is possible only in narrow, exceptional cases — an ordinary fit-note is not enough for it.
• Registration with the employment agency: at the latest three months before the employment ends, or, where the notice period is shorter, within three days of learning that it is to end (§ 38 para. 1 Sozialgesetzbuch III). Missing this risks a benefit suspension period.

You should also have the formalities checked. A dismissal must be in writing with a handwritten signature — by email, WhatsApp or fax it is invalid (§ 623 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch). If someone signs without authority to represent the employer and without producing a power of attorney, you may reject the dismissal without delay (§ 174 Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch). And where a works council exists, it must have been consulted before the dismissal (§ 102 Betriebsverfassungsgesetz).

An example from practice

A warehouse worker, 51 years old and with the business for 19 years, is off work for six to nine weeks in each of three successive years — mostly with back trouble caused by heavy lifting. The employer dismisses her “on health grounds” and totals up its continued-pay costs over recent years. It never offered a reintegration procedure. In the proceedings it emerges that a lifting aid and a move into order-picking would have been possible without creating a new post. At that point the employer can no longer show that a reintegration procedure would have been pointless — and the work-related contribution to her complaints weighs heavily in the balancing of interests. Cases like this often end with continued employment in a redesigned role, or with a settlement.

Common mistakes

• Trusting that “they can’t do it while I’m off sick.” This misconception regularly costs people the three-week deadline — and with it the whole of their protection against dismissal.
• Stopping the fit-notes. The duties to report and to prove incapacity continue until the employment ends. Ignoring them endangers your income and hands the employer an extra ground for dismissal.
• Disclosing your diagnosis to the employer. Your diagnosis is none of its business. What counts in the proceedings is the prognosis, not the clinical picture.
• Signing a termination agreement “for a bit of peace.” Ill employees are often offered exactly this; it can trigger a suspension period on your unemployment benefit and strips you of any negotiating position.
• Not raising the missing reintegration procedure. It is the strongest lever in the case — but it is only examined if you make it an issue.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be dismissed while I’m signed off sick?

Yes. A fit-note does not trigger any ban on dismissal. But nor does it leave you worse off: the dismissal must meet the same requirements as it would otherwise. Where the employer bases it specifically on the illness, particularly strict standards apply.

Is the three-week deadline extended because I’m ill?

No. The deadline in § 4 sentence 1 Kündigungsschutzgesetz runs from the moment the dismissal reaches you, regardless of your state of health. A subsequent leave to bring the claim out of time is only available in narrow, exceptional cases — for instance an illness that ruled out any possibility of acting at all. Do not rely on it.

What happens if no company reintegration procedure was offered?

The dismissal is not automatically invalid on that account. But the employer must then show that even a proper procedure would have led to no milder option than dismissal — that there was, for example, no post suited to your condition and no transfer available. That rarely succeeds.

Will I keep receiving money if I’m still ill after the dismissal?

Until the employment ends, continued pay of up to six weeks applies; if the employer dismisses you on the occasion of your incapacity for work, the entitlement continues beyond that (§ 8 para. 1 Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz). Thereafter, sickness benefit from your health insurance fund may come into play. The exact sequence depends on the individual case and should be clarified early.

What will an unfair-dismissal claim cost me?

The fees are governed by the value in dispute and the Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz; for the initial consultation the statutory cap in § 34 Rechtsanwaltsvergütungsgesetz applies. One peculiarity of employment law: at first instance each side bears its own legal costs, even the party that wins (§ 12a para. 1 Arbeitsgerichtsgesetz). If you hold legal-expenses insurance, I will handle the cover request.

Your next step

Do not simply accept the dismissal because you happen to be low at the moment — and do not wait until you are well again. The three-week deadline is running, and it is the one deadline that cannot be repaired later. Bring the dismissal letter, your employment contract and, if you can, an overview of your absences over the last three years; I will address the question of the reintegration procedure at our first meeting. Through the deadline calculator and the form you can reach me in a few minutes, including outside consultation hours. For an overview of the other areas I cover, see Employment law.

This article provides general information and is no substitute for legal advice in an individual case. Last updated: 2026-08-12.

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