Can my employer fire me when I am on sick leave?
I was working in a very racist environmental, suffering verbal agressions, moral harassment, have seen colleagues being punched in the face for my boss, inclusive had to go to police to help and give my testimony. Anyway, after a lot of episodes, I got depression and have been sick for two months, and last week my employer fired me but i am on sick leave, is that allowed? What can I do? I am married and have two kids, my wife worked in the same company, and they fired us both at the same time.
Hello gustavosilveira.msc thank you for reaching out to us. This sounds like a horrendous work environment.
Yes, unfortunately, your employer can fire you even if you are on sick leave. In case you have been working there for over 6 months and the company has more than 10 employees then the rules and law on protection against dismal apply for you. This means that your employer needs a reason to fire you. They cannot fire you on the basis of your religion, race or gender.
Here we have more information: https://handbookgermany.de/en/termination-of-employment-contract#faq_14…
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I would recommend that you seek out counselling, there are many services that help you with your rights as a worker and seeing that you became sick because of the mistreatment there might be something you can do. We also have an expert for worker’s rights on the platform. You can find their contact here: https://together-in-germany.de/en/thread/what-are-my-rights-workshop
Otherwise you an also search for a counseling at Faire integration in your area and contact them. You can find an overview of advice centres here: https://www.faire-integration.de/en/topic/46.advice-centres.html
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Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Best wishes
Jens Leuner Faire Integration BB, do you have any other suggestions?
Hello Gustavo, Yara has already given you the most important tips and links. As she has already written, it is important to know whether you and your wife have been working in the company for more than 6 months and whether there are more than 10 full-time employees.
This would give you and your wife the opportunity to take legal action against your dismissal. However, there is a deadline of 3 weeks for this! This means that the complaint must be submitted to the labour court 3 weeks after receipt of the notice of termination. After that, you can no longer take action against the dismissal.
If you have any further questions about the dismissal protection claim, we can arrange an online appointment. jens.leuner@caritas-goerlitz.de
Your boss and (if there is one) the works council are actually legally obliged to take action against discrimination in the workplace! Unfortunately, this is rarely the case in practice, especially in smaller companies. If you would like to let me know where you live, I can send you contact details of local advice centres that provide support in cases of discrimination and racism in the workplace.
Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Best regards jens