Continued payment of wagesContinued payment of wages, or continued remuneration, ensures the continuous payment of employees in the event of illness and other absences. The Continued Payment of Wages Act (EntgFG) specifies the conditions and special cases. In principle, every worker and employee is entitled to receive his or her regular salary in the event of incapacity for work and on public holidays. If no employer is obligated to pay, the health insurance company will give sick pay. Get an overview of all the an-. absences of your employees. Get to know the time recording system clocko:do!
What are the requirements for continued payment of wages?
The law lays down some rules for continued payment of wages. The continued payment of wages in the event of illness does not automatically take place. The employee must take care of it. Thus, according to § 5 of the Continued Remuneration Act, an employee who is ill has both a Duty to report as well as a Duty to provide evidence. Both are regulated in the Continued Payment of Wages Act.
What does the obligation to report?
The duty to report states that an employee must inform the boss as soon as possible of his or her illness and absence, including the expected duration. An employer is thus able to reschedule his personnel. The sooner the employee learns of the illness, the sooner he or she can find a replacement or reassignment of duties. The duty also applies abroad. Similarly, an employee reports an illness immediately if he is on vacation in order to get his vacation days back. The employee is allowed to conceal the type of incapacity from the boss when reporting sick leave.
What does the obligation to provide proof?
The obligation to provide evidence means a certificate of incapacity for work (AU) from a doctor. By law, such a certificate is required after the third calendar day (not working day) of an illness. If an absence lasts three sick days or less, none is required. The employer is entitled to fall short of this period and demand an AU directly on the first day. When abroad and on vacation, the law provides for a certificate on the first day. If the sickness lasts longer than the sickness certificate, the employee must provide the employer with a new certificate on the first following day.
If the employee does not have a certificate of incapacity for work for the duration of the illness, the employer may refuse continued payment of wages in accordance with § 7 EntgFG (German Employee Disability Act). Does the company have the Suspicion that the employee is not unfit for work, it may take measures to prove. Dismissal is then also possible under certain circumstances if the illness was actually feigned.
If an employee is engaged in a secondary activity, he/she may do so in case of illness if he/she is not incapacitated for this activity. A train attendant with a broken leg can work part-time at his mini-job in the call center.
Who gets continued payment of wages in case of illness and for how long?
§ 3 EntgFG regulates the entitlement. There is no difference between different employees.
– Full-time and part-time employees, – Mini-jobbers, – Holiday helpers, – Student jobbers, – Trainees – and all temporary employees
have Entitlement to continued payment of wages. The employer is allowed to grant it from the first day of work, but in the law there is a minimum length of four weeks for the employment relationship provided. A person who is incapacitated for work after three weeks with the new employer is not legally entitled to his money for one week. If the illness lasts longer than one week, the entitlement begins after four weeks of employment with the company. Whether the enterprise pays before nevertheless, is up to it.
Even the probationary period is not an exception to the continued payment of wages. If the employee has been with the company for more than four weeks, he or she has a right to sick leave. Trainees who transfer to permanent employment in the company count the time of training towards the four-week waiting period.
If an employee is sick for a longer period of time, employers are obliged to find a replacement. This works in the same way as substitution for vacations.
Read now in the guide all about sickness and vacation replacement and the organization!
What applies to continued payment of wages in case of illness?
Both for physical as well as mental illnesses a worker receives continued payment of wages according to § 3 of the Continued Payment of Wages Act. This includes any kind of illness, provided that it makes the employee Unable to work. You can make a phone call with a broken leg, but you can't deliver mail. An employee is also entitled to continued payment of remuneration in case of organ donation, blood stem cell donation. In addition, in the case of lawful abortion or sterilization, as well as for cure or rehabilitation, which is necessary and approved by the social welfare agency.
But the employer does not have to pay for every case of illness. If the employee intentional or grossly negligent acted, he is himself to blame. Anyone who causes a car accident while drunk or starts a fight and is unable to work as a result is not entitled to continued payment of wages. Even if you spend a lot of time with colleagues who are unfit for work due to flu and catch it, you will have a bad chance. (Extreme) sports accidents are a controversial topic, but often the same applies here: Those who are not negligent are entitled to continued payment of wages.
If the employee Compensation If the employee claims compensation from a third party, the claim is transferred to the employer (subrogation in the event of third-party liability, § 6 EntgFZ). This concerns contributions to the Federal Employment Agency to be borne by the employer, employer's share of contributions to social insurance and nursing care insurance as well as to institutions for supplementary old-age and survivors' pensions. The injured employee has a duty to inform his employer of the fault of a third party.
How long is the period of continued payment of remuneration??
§ Section 3 of the Continuation of Remuneration Act regulates exactly how long an entitlement exists in the event of illness:
The employer is obliged to pay the employee for six weeks or 42 days to pay wages in the event of illness. For one and the same illness with interruptions in which the employee works, the employer counts all sick days together. He must then pay for a total of six weeks. The information whether the same illness already existed, he gets from the health insurance, usually via an online tool.
This aggregation lapses if six months have passed since the end of the last period of sick leave. The employer also steps in again in the event of ongoing illness: If a full year has passed since the last onset of the illness, the company will again pay the continued salary for six weeks. For different illnesses There is no waiting period and employees have a new claim right away.
If an employee falls ill with burn-out for five weeks, for example, his company will continue to pay him his wages. Two months later he is again incapacitated for work due to burn-out, this time for two weeks. The first of the two weeks still falls under the responsibility of the employer. After that he does not have to pay any more remuneration. If, however, the employee is absent again due to the same illness and there are six months between the two absences, the company is again liable.
If an illness lasts nine months, the employer also pays for the first six weeks. Employee returns for three months and becomes ill again, exactly one year after the first illness began. Here, the six-week period begins anew for the employer.
If an employee is home sick, for example because of a broken arm, and then gets the flu, does not extend the period. The employer continues to pay for only six weeks, even if the flu extends beyond the incapacity for work due to a broken arm. According to BAG case law, this is called "unity of the case of prevention". The employer does not know the reason for the illness and may ame that it is the same illness. An employee achieves continued payment for the second period by obtaining a medical certificate (not a certificate of incapacity for work) from the doctor.
If the employment contract ends during the inability to work due to the illness, for example due to a time limit, the entitlement also ends. Cancellation due to illness is only allowed in certain cases. In this case, however, the entitlement continues. same applies in the event of termination by the employee due to circumstances for which the employer is at fault.
What happens to the continued payment of wages after six weeks??
Once the six weeks of continued payment by the employer are over, the Statutory health insurance a. If the inability to work lasts longer, employees file a claim with the health insurance fund and receive sick pay. This is lower than the full wage, the exact conditions vary from health insurance company to health insurance company.
Privately insured Employees receive daily sickness benefits if they have taken out supplementary insurance of this kind.
The provisions in a collective agreement may differ from the statutory provisions. This only applies if they are more favorable to the employee than the law.
Is there continued payment of wages for self-employed persons?
Self-employed and freelancers are not in an employment relationship. For this reason no claim On the fact that someone else pays her when she is unable to work. Every self-employed person includes days when they are unable to work in their income and hourly rate. However, there is also sick pay for freelancers via higher payments to the statutory health insurance fund.
How does the calculation of continued remuneration work?
The continued payment of wages, which the employer pays during the first six weeks of incapacity for work, corresponds to the full salary. It applies Wage loss principle for the working time that is lost. This means any pay that an employee would have received belongs in the continuation of pay. This includes, in addition to the normal wage, Sunday and holiday bonuses, additional payment for night work, commission, hazard pay and reimbursement of expenses. Wage increases are also due for employees who are unable to work. Overtime is included if it occurs on a regular basis. If it is not clear which payment the employee is missing out on, the Average of the last three months to take.
For work on Hourly basis companies also use the last three months or the last 13 weeks for the calculation. Employers multiply the lost hours by the hourly wage.
During the continued payment of wages, there is no entitlement to sick pay, injury benefit or unemployment benefit.
Example of continued payment of wages
Carina has worked for Dunya for three years as a half-time hourly employee in the office and always works as much as tasks arise. Due to her writing activities, she catches tendinitis in her right hand. She goes to the doctor, receives a sick note, and is initially out of work for two weeks, during which Dunya pays her continued wages. For the amount of payment, Dunya averages the hours Carina has worked in the last three months. She converts this average monthly wage to the two weeks of lost time. Towards the end of the two weeks, Carina falls ill with a cold. Stays home for three more days. Dunya does not have to pay her for these days, because the new illness started during the old one.
Carina returns to work after recovering from her illness. After three weeks, however, she suffers another bout of tendinitis in her right hand. This time it is more severe. Carina is absent for six weeks. Although Dunya has to continue paying wages for six weeks. However, this applies per illness and in total, so in the second period only four weeks are left to Dunya. Carina's health insurance pays for the other two weeks of continued pay. Unfortunately Carina is unlucky. Nine months later, she has the same illness again. Because there are six months of work between the illnesses, Dunya is again obliged to continue paying wages for six weeks. What applies to home work. Continued payment of wages?According to § 10 of the Continuation of Remuneration Act (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz), employees working from home are not entitled to continued remuneration in the event of illness. Instead, you will receive a monthly supplement to the gross wage: without outside help, it is 3.4 percent; with two or fewer outside helpers, it is 6.4 percent. The type of incapacity for work does not matter. For You are entitled to holidays on pay.
The Calculation is somewhat more complicated. The holiday pay is 0.72 percent of the salary in six months, excluding expenses. For holidays from May to October, the six months from the previous November to April are used and vice versa. If the employee does not continue to work at home, the employer shall pay the employee holiday pay for the current and the following six months. The employer shows this holiday pay and the supplements in the pay slip.
Is there continued payment of wages during maternity leave??
During maternity leave, employees are entitled to continued payment of wages according to the Maternity Protection Act. This applies in particular Employment ban six weeks before and eight weeks after birth. If the expectant mother is on sick leave due to health problems during pregnancy prior to the employment ban, this.
The situation is different for Parental leave. The money for this period is paid by the state, between 65 and 67 percent of the previous wage.
How does the continued payment of wages during vacation work?
During the vacation period, each employee continues to receive his or her regular wage. This applies to paid. Not for unpaid leave. Which vacation entitlement an employee has, he regulates with his employer. Also in case of illness and incapacity for work during vacation, there is up to six weeks of continued payment of remuneration.
The situation is different when an employee in his free time becomes incapacitated for work. His company does not pay his wages. This also applies to days off, in which employees Reduce overtime. If an employee works one day of overtime and is unable to work for this day due to a cold, he does not get his hours back.
When does the history of continued payment of wages begin?
Already 1861 there was a regulation in the Prussian General German Commercial Code for wage entitlement in case of absence without fault. The general entitlement to continued payment of wages in the event of illness has been regulated since 1970 by the "Act on Continued Payment of Wages in the Event of Illness and on Amendments to the Law on Statutory Health Insurance". Germany the "Law on payment on holidays. In the event of illness (Continued Payment of Wages Act)" as it is today a. Since then there have been a few updates and adjustments.