Sick leave and sick pay

If you are too ill to work, tell your employer as soon as possible. If you are not at fault, your employer normally continues your pay for up to six weeks, but only once you have been employed for four uninterrupted weeks. After continued pay ends, your statutory health insurer may pay Krankengeld, or sick pay.

In short

• Tell your employer without delay that you cannot work and how long you expect to be ill. If your illness lasts more than three calendar days, obtain medical proof by the following working day, or sooner if your employer requires it.
• Continued pay runs for up to six weeks, and only after four uninterrupted weeks in the job, when you are not at fault. It is not paid on top of Krankengeld for the same days.
• Krankengeld is generally 70 percent of regular pay that is subject to contributions, and not more than 90 percent of net. It is also capped at 70 percent of the health-insurance contribution ceiling, which is 135.63 euros a calendar day in 2026. It cannot exceed the net. From 1 January 2027 a different calculation applies after employment ends during incapacity; see the conditions below. For the same illness it lasts at most 78 weeks in each three-year block, and the employer’s continued-pay weeks count. People who are mainly self-employed do not receive it unless they have opted in.
• The message the employer retrieves has the dates and an accident flag, not the diagnosis. A household Minijob, a privately insured employee, a doctor outside contracted statutory care, or a certificate issued abroad still needs the paper certificate sent to the employer.

What you need to know

Under section 3 of the Continued Remuneration Act, an employee who cannot work because of illness through no fault of their own receives continued pay for up to six weeks. This entitlement starts after four uninterrupted weeks of employment. If the same illness returns, a further six weeks is available if you were not unable to work because of that illness for at least six months before the new spell, or if twelve months have passed since the first spell began.

Tell your employer without delay that you cannot work and how long you expect to be off. Under section 5(1a), electronic retrieval replaces a paper certificate only for employees who belong to a statutory health-insurance fund. Privately insured employees still need to give their employer a paper certificate under subsection 1.

The electronic rule also does not apply to a household Minijob or when your doctor does not take part in contracted statutory care. Certificates issued abroad fall into the latter category, so a paper certificate is still required.

Have your inability to work and its likely duration established within the deadlines in section 5; you receive your own medical certificate. Your employer can ask for proof earlier than the usual deadline.

If you fall ill abroad, tell your employer that you cannot work, how long you expect it to last and your address there, using the fastest means. Your employer bears the cost of that message. If you have statutory health insurance, also tell your insurer without delay about the illness and any extension and, if you return while still unable to work, notify both your employer and insurer.

Section 44 provides Krankengeld for insured people who cannot work because of illness or receive hospital treatment at their insurer’s expense. The main exclusions include many people who are not employees and people who are mainly self-employed unless they have opted in.

Under section 47, the amount is generally 70 percent of regular pay subject to contributions, no more than 90 percent of net pay calculated as the section describes, and never more than the net. Subsection 6 counts regular pay only up to the daily contribution ceiling, so Krankengeld is also capped at 70 percent of that ceiling. In 2026 the maximum is 135.63 euros per calendar day. It is paid for calendar days; your insurer calculates the payment.

For the same illness, section 48 limits Krankengeld to 78 weeks in each three-year block, counted from the day you became unable to work. Another illness arising during that time does not extend the limit. Periods when the claim rests also count toward the 78 weeks under section 48(3), including the time when your employer continues your wages under section 49.

From 1 January 2027, section 47 (2a), enacted by the Act of 24 July 2026, changes the calculation if an employment relationship ends during incapacity for work. From the day after employment ends, Krankengeld is 60 percent of net pay. The 67 percent rate refers to the insured person or their spouse or registered life partner having a child qualifying under section 32 (1) and (3) to (5) of the Income Tax Act.

The statute also says both spouses or life partners must be subject to unlimited income tax and not live permanently apart. Ask the insurer how the conditions apply to your case, including if you have no spouse or registered life partner.

Under section 109 of Book IV, your health insurer prepares a message for your employer to retrieve after it receives the sick-note data. It contains your name, the start and end dates, the date your doctor established that you could not work, whether it is a first or follow-up note, and whether there are signs of an accident. It does not contain your diagnosis. Your doctor must still give you your own certificate.

What to do

1. Tell the employer without delay that you cannot work and how long you expect the illness to last. Do this before you worry about forms.
2. If the illness lasts more than three calendar days, have medical proof by the following working day, or earlier if your employer requires it. In the statutory scheme, the employer normally retrieves the dates under section 109 and you keep your own certificate. For a household Minijob, a privately insured employee, a non-contract doctor, or a certificate issued abroad, send the employer the paper certificate instead.
3. Expect continued pay for up to six weeks if the four-week waiting period in the job has passed and you are not at fault. Ask the insurer about Krankengeld as that period ends. Section 47 contains the general 70 percent and 90 percent limits and the further contribution-ceiling limit; from 2027 it also provides for the different calculation described above if employment ends during incapacity.
4. If you are mainly self-employed, check section 44 (2): Krankengeld is not automatic and depends on opting in. Private insurance follows the terms of your contract instead.

Continuity and the duration of your own sick pay

A gap between medical certificates can affect your Krankengeld. Under section 46, the claim generally begins on the day a doctor establishes that you cannot work. For hospital treatment and the inpatient preventive or rehabilitation treatment named in that section, it begins at the start of treatment. Continued wages from your employer still come first.

To keep the claim continuous for the same illness, the doctor must establish that you are still unable to work by the next working day after your last certificate ends. Saturdays do not count as working days for this deadline. If the doctor establishes it later, this continuity rule does not apply.

Section 46 has a further rule for the insured people it identifies whose membership depends on their Krankengeld claim: the claim can still continue if the doctor establishes the continuing inability to work within one month of the last certified end date. In that special case, section 49(1) number 8 suspends payment until the later medical finding. Continuing entitlement or membership does not itself mean the gap is paid. Ask your insurer which rule applies to you.

Under section 48, Krankengeld for unfitness caused by the same illness is limited to 78 weeks within each three-year period, counted from the start of unfitness. Periods when the claim is suspended, including continued wages under section 49, count toward that duration: it is not an extra 78 weeks after the employer’s six weeks. An additional illness arising during the unfitness does not extend the limit. A fresh entitlement after exhaustion has additional conditions; a new calendar year does not restart the count.

Before Krankengeld ends

Ask the fund for a written calculation of the three-year period, counted days and end date. Keep its decisions, certificates and submission evidence. If you dispute the calculation, read the remedy notice and obtain legal help promptly without stopping medical evidence on your own initiative.

Before the last payment, contact the Agentur für Arbeit about any possible unemployment-benefit entitlement, and the health fund about continuing cover and who pays contributions. For enduring earning limitations, ask Deutsche Rentenversicherung about rehabilitation or a reduced-earning-capacity pension. No benefit or pension starts automatically when sick pay stops. If the fund requires a rehabilitation application under section 51, observe the ten-week deadline it can set; failing to apply in time can end sick pay.

When your child is ill

A child’s illness does not use your own six weeks of continued pay. Under section 45, an insured person can receive Krankengeld if a doctor certifies that they must stay off work to supervise, care for or nurse an insured child, no one else in the household can do so, and the child is under 12 or is disabled and needs help. Section 45 also uses the definition of a child in section 10(4), which includes a stepchild or grandchild whom the member mainly supports or has taken into the household, and a foster child. The opt-in rule in section 44(2) applies to this claim too.

For as long as that Krankengeld claim lasts, section 45(3) gives a right to unpaid release from work, unless paid release already exists for the same reason. A contract cannot exclude or limit that release. An employee without that Krankengeld claim can still have the unpaid release under section 45(5).

For 2026, section 45(2a) allows 15 working days for each child, or 30 if the insured parent is raising the child alone. The annual total is 35 working days, or 70 for an insured parent raising a child alone.

The ordinary limits in section 45(2) are 10 working days per child, or 20 for an insured parent raising the child alone, with an annual total of 25 working days, or 50 for that parent. The higher limits apply only to 2026. The ordinary limits return on 1 January 2027 unless a later law extends the higher figures. As of 22 October 2026, the published text of section 45 contains no such extension; check the current text before relying on the 2026 numbers after that date. These are working-day limits for the section 45(1) claim. Ask your insurer about a hospital stay with your child or a serious illness, which the section handles separately.

Section 45(2) sets Kinderkrankengeld at 90 percent of lost net pay from contributory earnings, or 100 percent if you received one-off contributory payments in the twelve calendar months before taking leave. It is capped at 70 percent of the daily contribution ceiling. In 2026 the daily cap is 135.63 euros. This calculation is separate from the 70 percent of regular pay under section 47; your insurer calculates the amount.

Common mistakes

• Expecting continued pay in the first four weeks of a new job. Section 3 (3) starts the claim after four uninterrupted weeks.
• Assuming sick pay is full salary after week six. Section 47 generally sets 70 percent of contributory regular pay, not above 90 percent of net, and also not above 70 percent of the contribution ceiling; from 2027 a different calculation applies after employment ends during incapacity, as explained above.
• Sending the diagnosis to the employer. The retrieval message in section 109 lists dates and an accident flag, not the diagnosis.
• Treating the end of Krankengeld as cover for being unable to do your last job. The occupational-disability page separates that private contract from the statutory pension.