As of: March 12, 2024, 12:00 p.m
By: Anne Hund
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Suppose you are on sick leave from the doctor for five days, but feel completely healthy again after just three days.
What then applies to employees who want to go back to work?
If you are on sick leave at work, you should rest well and do everything you can to get well again.
Many companies only require a certificate of incapacity for work (AU) from the fourth day of illness, others earlier.
For example, the employment contract can stipulate that the employer can request a doctor's certificate from the first or second day.
Calendar days apply when calculating the deadline.
But what if you get well again sooner than expected and want to work - is that possible despite being on sick leave?
Going back to work despite being on sick leave?
What employees should consider
The short answer is: Yes, as the job portal
Stepstone.de
reports in an article on its website.
There is no legal regulation that prohibits you from working if you are on sick leave.
After all, it is not unusual for an illness to go away quicker than expected.
Then you can work normally.
If you want to do that, you have to clarify your return with your employer in advance, according to a dpa report on the subject.
Ultimately, the employer has a duty of care towards the employees.
A possible earlier return should be clarified with your employer in advance.
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Duty of care on the part of the employer
“Even if a health certificate is sometimes requested by employers, this generally does not exist in the German healthcare system,” informs
the
Haufe.de portal.
If employees are obviously in top shape, they can easily go back to work despite being on sick leave.
After all, the certificate of incapacity for work is only a prognosis.
“However, if special circumstances suggest that employees are not yet fit to work again, the employer must, if necessary, call in the company doctor or have the employee’s state of health checked in another way as part of his duty of care,” the
Haufe.de article continues.
In this case, a medical certificate declaring the employee fit for work may be required.
Going back to work earlier despite being on sick leave?
Employees also have a duty of care.
“If it is foreseeable that by starting work early you will endanger your recovery or even worsen your illness, you should wait for the duration of your expected inability to work,” it says on
Haufe.de
.
Even in their free time, they should not do anything that would endanger their own recovery.
However, if employees are on sick leave, that does not mean that they have to stay in bed all the time.
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Working despite being on sick leave – do you have to report it to your health insurance company?
Employees who return to work early despite being on sick leave have “the usual insurance coverage in statutory accident insurance as well as in health insurance,” according to the article on
Haufe.de
.
The sick note did not change the insured status,
Stepstone.de
informs accordingly.
You don't have to report it to your health insurance company if you work despite being on sick leave, according to the job portal.