If mini-jobbers fall ill, they are legally entitled to continued payment of wages. The maximum duration of continued payment of wages due to the same illness is six weeks. The entitlement to continued payment of wages only exists if the employment relationship has existed for at least four weeks without interruption. If mini-jobbers have only been working in the company for a few days or weeks, they are not entitled to continued payment of their wages.
If a mini-jobber is unable to work several times within 12 months due to the same illness, employers must add up the periods of illness.
This means:
- Employers pay a maximum total of six weeks' continued pay for the same illness.
- If employers have already continued to pay wages for a few days or weeks due to this illness, they must count this period of continued payment of wages towards the six weeks.
- But: If there is a break of at least six months between two periods of incapacity for work due to the same illness, employers must continue to pay earnings for up to six weeks.
Practical example:
A mini-job worker is off sick for three weeks due to back problems. Two months later, she is absent again due to the same diagnosis. In this case, the employer only has to continue to pay wages for the remaining three weeks.
Employers often find it difficult to determine whether an incapacity to work is due to the same illness. As a rule, they do not know why the mini-jobber is ill. Employers should therefore ask their mini-jobbers directly about previous periods of illness. Minijobbers do not have to give a precise diagnosis. They only need to confirm whether the illnesses have the same background. Note: For employees subject to social insurance contributions, employers can in many cases obtain information about previous periods of illness directly from the statutory health insurance fund. However, this is not possible for mini-jobbers.
It is not only in the event of illness that a mini-jobber is entitled to continued payment of wages. Even if a mini-jobber takes part in medical rehabilitation, employers must continue to pay wages for up to six weeks. The six weeks do not apply separately to illness and rehabilitation if both are due to the same illness. The period of incapacity for work due to illness is taken into account first. If this is followed by rehabilitation due to the same illness, employers must add the periods together.
Even in a mini-job, employees may have to stay at home for a short time because their child is ill. Under the following conditions, employers must continue to pay earnings even if the child is ill:
- The child is not yet 12 years old or
- the child has a disability and is dependent on help.
In these cases, employers can release their mini-jobbers from work for a short period to care for their child. The entitlement to paid leave is up to five working days. This applies unless otherwise agreed in the employment contract.
To ensure that continued payment of wages in the event of illness does not represent an unexpectedly high financial burden for employers, they are covered by Knappschaft-Bahn-See employer insurance. This reimburses a large part of the costs of continued payment of wages. The prerequisite for this is participation in the U1 compensation procedure. If a child falls ill, the employer's expenses are not reimbursed by the employer's insurance.