Sickness
"We'll deduct your sick days from your leave."
The company wants to offset days off sick against your leave account.
§ 9 BUrlG / § 3 EntgFG
The boss may NOT do that
No — illness and vacation have nothing to do with each other.
Sick days are incapacity for work, not vacation. Continued pay applies to them (§ 3 EntgFG), and your leave entitlement remains untouched. Offsetting them against leave is not allowed. This even applies if you fall ill during your vacation: days of incapacity proven by a medical certificate are not counted against your annual leave (§ 9 BUrlG). Cutting your leave because of many sick days in the year is not allowed either — the statutory minimum leave accrues even during long illness.
What the law says
§ 9 BUrlG – Illness during vacation
If an employee falls ill during vacation, the days of incapacity proven by a medical certificate are not counted against the annual leave.
§ 3 EntgFG – Continued pay
In case of incapacity due to illness through no fault of one's own, there is a right to continued pay for up to six weeks.
What you can do
- Check your leave account after every illness.
- Request a correction in writing, stating the days of your sick note.
- Ill on vacation? Report immediately and get a sick note — otherwise the days count as leave.
- Have your leave balance confirmed regularly.
Email template for your trainer
Subject: Correction of my leave account
Dear [name of trainer],
the days of my incapacity for work from [date] to [date] were deducted from my leave account. Sick days are not recreational leave; offsetting them against leave is not permitted (cf. § 9 BUrlG, § 3 EntgFG).
Please correct my leave account by [number] days.
Kind regards
[Your name]