Is an employer allowed to contact an employee during sick leave?

In principle:

An employer may contact an employee during sick leave, but only within strict limits that respect the employee’s right to rest, recovery, and medical privacy.

Detailed explanation:

When is contact permissible?

Contact should be limited to situations of urgent operational necessity (dringende betriebliche Gründe), for example:

• An urgent question that genuinely cannot be postponed until the employee returns and that no one else can answer.

• Issues involving security-related tasks, protection of confidential information, or matters that colleagues simply cannot resolve.

• Even then, contact should be brief, infrequent, and restricted to a genuinely necessary and legitimate issue.

What is the employer not allowed to do?

• Harass the employee with daily or repeated calls/messages, or pressure them to return early or to work from home.

• Ask about details of the illness or the medical diagnosis – your health data are private.

• Require the employee to perform their regular work during sick leave, unless the treating doctor has explicitly confirmed that this is medically acceptable.

Employee’s right to refuse:

• If the contact is not necessary, or causes stress and hinders your recovery, you have the right to not respond or to politely request that the matter be postponed until you return from sick leave.

• You may also inform your doctor, your trade union, or the works council (Betriebsrat) if you feel subjected to repeated or undue pressure.

What to do in practice if you receive a call during sick leave:

• Briefly explain that you are currently on sick leave, that your doctor has advised you to rest, and that you will deal with any urgent matters once you are back at work.

• Record the date, time, and reason for the contact, especially if you feel that the calls are becoming frequent or overstepping boundaries.

• You are not obliged to respond immediately except in truly exceptional emergencies, and your employer is not allowed to punish or pressure you simply because you were not permanently available while on sick leave.

Summary:

An employer may contact an employee during sick leave only in necessary and exceptional cases, and such contact must always respect the employee’s right to recover and to medical privacy.

The employer is not allowed to harass, pressure, or ask health-related questions, and any contact must be strictly limited to urgent operational matters.

You have every right to request that any non-essential communication be postponed until after you have recovered, particularly if you feel it is unnecessary or affects your rest.

The website’s editorial and writing team strives to provide accurate information based on thorough research and consultation of multiple sources. Nevertheless, errors may occur or some information may be incomplete or not fully verified. Therefore, please treat the information contained in these articles as an initial point of reference and always consult the competent authorities for definitive and reliable information.