If you are an employee and are absent for a longer period of time, you don’t need to worry about finances at first. However, there are a few things you should keep in mind when it comes to sick pay.
A fall on the stairs, a bicycle accident or mental exhaustion – there are many reasons why employees may be on sick leave for longer periods of time. It’s good to know that health insurance will step in in an emergency and provide you with financial support.
We explain when and for how long you can receive the benefit, how much it will cost and what problems you should avoid.
Employees, trainees and recipients of unemployment benefit I (ALG I) who have statutory health insurance and are ill for a longer period of time are generally entitled to sick pay. Students, on the other hand, do not normally receive sick pay.
The entitlement begins on the day on which your doctor has certified you as sick (Section 46, Sentence 1, No. 2 of the Social Code Book V). However, as most employees are also entitled to six weeks of continued pay from their employer, the employer initially continues to pay their full salary (Section 3 of the Continued Pay Act). During this time, their sick pay is suspended. If you are unemployed, the unemployment benefit from the employment agency continues to flow. After the six weeks, in both cases, the health insurance company steps in and transfers sick pay.
The prerequisite for continued payment of wages in the event of illness is that the employment relationship has existed for at least four weeks. If you have not been employed at the new company for that long, the health insurance company can pay the sick pay directly.
Anyone who is treated as an inpatient in a hospital or a preventive or rehabilitation facility without receiving any further salary from their employer will also receive sick pay.
Employees must provide their employer with a medical certificate of incapacity to work. This must also be received by the health insurance company within one week of the doctor’s visit. This is now done completely digitally, so employees no longer have to do any work themselves.
Self-employed people have no legal entitlement to sick pay. However, they can protect themselves by submitting a declaration of choice to their statutory health insurance provider. They will then receive sick pay from the 43rd day of sick leave. To do this, they must take out a corresponding optional tariff and thus pay a higher premium.
- Sick pay for self-employed persons: This is how you are entitled to wage replacement from the health insurance company
Those who have private health insurance do not automatically receive sick pay. They must take out additional insurance with what is known as daily sick pay.
Under certain conditions, those with statutory insurance also receive sickness benefit if they care for a sick child who is younger than twelve years old.
The amount of sick pay is 70 percent of the regular gross salary up to the contribution assessment limit, but not more than 90 percent of the net salary. The statutory maximum amount of sick pay for 2024 is 120.75 euros per day. For recipients of unemployment benefit, the amount of sick pay depends on the amount of the benefit.
If you are obliged to pay into pension, unemployment and nursing care insurance, contributions will be deducted from the amount of sickness benefit. Health insurance, on the other hand, is free of charge for members with compulsory insurance while you are receiving sickness benefit.
| Calculation basis | Amount |
|---|---|
| monthly gross salary | 4,333 euros |
| Monthly net salary (tax class I, no children) | 2,729 euros |
| 70 percent of gross salary | 3,033 euros |
| 90 percent of net salary | 2,456 euros |
| gross monthly sick pay | 2,456 euros |
| less pension insurance share (9.3 percent) | 228.41 euros |
| minus unemployment insurance share (1.3 percent) | 31.93 euros |
| less nursing care insurance share (1.7 percent + 0.3 percent childless supplement) | 49.12 euros |
| monthly net sick pay | 2,146.54 euros |
| daily sick pay net | 71.55 euros |
| Difference to net income | 582.46 euros |
Some health insurance companies offer online sickness benefit calculators, for example Techniker Krankenkasse.
Although you do not have to pay taxes on sick pay, it is subject to the so-called progression reservation. This means that sick pay increases your taxable income, which leads to a higher income tax rate and possibly a back payment to the tax office. You can read more about the progression reservation here.
Sick pay is time-limited. It is paid for a maximum of 78 weeks within three years per illness – including continued payment of wages by the employer. Sick pay is therefore generally available for 72 weeks.
If the incapacity to work is spread over several sick notes, all of which relate to the same condition, the sick pay is paid directly for the other sick notes. The six-week waiting period for continued salary payment therefore only applies once.
If the three years are up and the illness recurs, your entitlement to 78 weeks of sick pay starts again from the beginning. The condition is that you have completed a period of six months in which you were not on sick leave due to this illness.
If you have exhausted your sick pay, you can also consider a disability pension. Ideally, you should apply for this three months earlier than you need it. However, your health insurance company cannot force you to apply. Read more about when you are entitled to a disability pension here.
As a rule, you will initially be given a sick note for no more than two weeks. You can see when your incapacity to work ends in the space provided on the certificate of incapacity to work. The doctor must give you another sick note no later than the next working day after this date in order to maintain your entitlement to sick pay. Saturdays are not considered working days.
