Fired for having time off work due to illness

hi all,

I've had the last two weeks off of work due to illness, only today when i began again, and i think my boss asked me to quit.
In Germany, can you be fired for having time off for illness?

It just seemed very odd to ask me to quit rather than fire me. I'm a hard worker, and get paid practically nothing so i'm unsure whether i should bring it up with my boss again.

Or maybe something was lost in translation. Any ideas?

Did you inform your employer how long you'd be away? Did you get a doctor's certificate? Did you send it/hand it over to your employer?

If you got yourself a sick note from a doctor and presented it within three working days tell him to fuck off (I wouldn't use those precise words though).

Did you submit a doctor's note? Without paperwork employers can run into trouble (insurance etc.) so a note is expected for any absence more than three days. Possibly your boss was reminding you of this. He/she might do this as a verbal warning (same procedure in the UK: repeated verbal warnings should be given before a firing - except in exceptional cases like gross negligence or criminalty etc.).

This may be what you heard. If you didn't get anything in writing, you probably haven't been fired.

And no, you can't be fired for being ill, but there are some rules about long-term illness.

Are you in the first 6 months of your job?

hi all, thanks for your help.

Everythings sorted now, was a simple case of things being lost in translation.

- unf*ckingbelievable!!!

how can you misunderstand 'you're fired' / or 'you're not fired' in your case??

I was told yesterday I had 8 weeks left before I have to resign.. Ive not had a day off ill in 4 years.
Not really helpful I know but there you go...

Umm, have to resign? What's the story here then?

Don't resign at all, you will loose all your unemployment benefits if you do that.

Exactly. This can also happen if you are fired for a particular reason. They can then also cut, reduce your unemployment benefit.

You've only been in Germany for a month or so?
Employees have an amazing variety of rights here.
GO TO A LAWYER.
It is a common scam in that employers think (rightly in most cases)
that Anglo-Saxons think German Employment Law is similar to the US/UK.
IT IS NOT.
My employer asked me to sign an "Aufhebungsvertrag" just before I went on holiday.
This is a voluntary agreement to leave.
I know enough about German Employment Law not to do this and have a clued up German partner.
I refused to sign said document (which oddly two of my German fellow workers had (stupidly) done).
An afternoon appointment at a lawyer confirmed - I could have my job back - no problems.
Otherwise - 2/ 3000 Euro Compensation and FULL Arbeitlosigkeitsgeld.It was a Sch**** firm so I took the compensation (almost at the Arbeitsgericht door) and full unemployment pay.
I was lucky in that the lawyer charged me nix! (it was such a blatant abuse that he took pity on me).
Even if you have to pay a lawyer you will normally be quids in if you have a reasonable case.

A year ago I started suffering from depression and had to take two or three days off. I got a certificate from my doctor. Unfortunatly it happened at a time when my boss needed me. When I came back my boss decided to reduce my salary... I accepted because I was scared to lose my job. He actually asked one of my colleagues whether I was pregnant because he seemd to have a problem with pregnant women!! and fact is that he only hireds women...
anyway then for nearly 8 months he ignored me, talking to me only when he needed too, etc... I was mobbed and three months ago I decided to quit!!! god it felt good!!! I simply hate this man!

I suffered a great deal of "mobbing" in one of my jobs, fortunately there are doctors here who work with lawyers and can keep you off work without the "firm" being able to legally take the piss, I had this and also had to go to a gut achter wh said I should go to work and then go to the doctor again as I wouldnt lose full pay, I can give details if you pm me. It really helped me through a hard time.

It was simply that my boss said in german something along the lines of 'you need to rethink your position here'. It's fairly ambiguous. So i wondered whether it was which department i was working in (as the boss was in the process of re-jigging the staff) or whether it was an are-you-sure-you-still-want-to-work-here?

Plus i don't speak much german so things will be misunderstood.

What Jeremy said.


Maybe a little less rosy on the legal costs though: the default thing in labour conflicts is that each party pays her/his own lawyer's fees etc, regardless of outcome. That's negotiable, but often tough to beat.

Also, it's technically illegal for the lawyer to do favors like that, so if you're lucky, then keep it quiet or you risk someone less generous (generally a lawyer with too little work and too much time) turning the lawyer in. End result, fewer lawyers take the risk of bending the rules when they want to help.

Only in the first instance (Arbeitsgericht) ...

You're right - thanks.