Holiday Leave for Long-Term Sick Workers: German Courts Draw a 15-Month Line

Employees who are off work for extended periods due to illness still accrue statutory holiday leave, but German courts have set firm boundaries on how long those days can survive. The key principle: unused leave expires 15 months after the end of the leave year, regardless of whether the employer explicitly warned the worker.

The Landesarbeitsgericht (LAG) Baden-Württemberg established that timeline back in 2011, citing EU law that aims to prevent indefinite accumulation of holiday days. The LAG Rheinland-Pfalz reinforced the rule in January 2020, adding that even without a formal employer reminder, the claims can lapse. Why? A warning would make no practical difference to someone permanently unable to work.

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Those 15 months apply to statutory minimum leave. Collective bargaining agreements may set shorter deadlines, and the clock starts ticking once the leave year closes.

Special Protections for Disabled Employees

The Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG) has clarified a carve?out for workers with severe disabilities. If a severely disabled employee remains medically unfit to work right through the entire 15?month carry?over period, then upon leaving the job, they are still entitled to be paid for both the statutory minimum leave and the additional disability?related leave.

Inheritance is a different matter. The BAG holds that if a disabled worker dies, the right to holiday pay dies with them. The LAG Hamm had previously argued, under European law, that such claims could be inherited — but the higher court’s view prevails.

Sick Notes Remain Hard to Shake

A doctor’s certificate of incapacity carries strong evidentiary weight. The LAG Schleswig?Holstein underscored this in January 2026: an employer cannot fire someone summarily for allegedly faking illness unless it can offer concrete evidence of fraud. Timing alone — such as the certification coming right before a job change — is not enough.

The LAG Köln reached a similar conclusion in June 2020. Even a sick note obtained shortly after a formal warning does not automatically undermine its validity. In that case, the employer had to pay back wages and damages.

Electronic Reporting and Edge Cases

Since January 2023, doctors in Germany must send sick?note data directly to health insurers via the electronic Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung (eAU). Employers then retrieve the information from the insurer. Employees still have to notify their workplace “immediately” about an absence, but the old paper yellow slip is gone.

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Ambulatory preventive cures do not automatically trigger continued wage compensation, the LAG Niedersachsen ruled in 2015. If a cure aims solely at general prevention, the employer owes nothing.

For certain job roles, fitness requirements are strict. The Sächsische LAG decided in November 2022 that a bus driver with sleep apnoea had no claim to wages while unable to drive safely. However, a positive counter?expertise can restore the salary claim.

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