As of: January 28, 2024, 2:00 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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Many employers offer their employees compensatory time off to reduce overtime.
But what happens if the employee gets sick right then?
Anyone who works more than stipulated in the employment contract does overtime.
Employers can pay employees for more hours worked or offer them compensatory time off - a popular choice among employees who want to make up for lost free time with family and friends.
When reducing overtime, it is of course particularly annoying if you suddenly notice a cough or a scratchy throat.
If it were a normal vacation day, there would be the option of calling in sick in order to have the vacation days credited back.
Because vacation is supposed to be about relaxation and if you're sick, you can't regenerate.
But does it also work when you have time off because overtime is reduced?
Sick during compensatory time off: Can the hours be reduced later?
Actually, overtime should be compensated, but then this: you're sick in bed.
© Shotshop/Imago
In fact, the overtime that was granted as compensatory time off cannot be reclaimed if the employee becomes unable to work during this time.
This has already been stated in several court rulings, including by the Federal Labor Court in 2003 (6 AZR 374/02).
From a legal point of view, paid overtime is not a vacation.
The focus here is not on recovery and the employee bears the risk himself if he falls ill during compensatory time off.
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“You don’t have to compare the compensatory time off for overtime with vacation, but with the non-working weekend,” says Alexander Bredereck, a specialist lawyer for labor law in Berlin, according to a report in the
Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung
.
Anyone who is sick in bed from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon has no right to get the lost weekend back from their employer.
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According to Bredereck, a certificate of incapacity for work is therefore not necessary either.
A sick report would only affect working days and if there was compensatory time off, there would be no obligation to work.