🤝 Workplace integration management (BEM)

After more than six weeks of incapacity for work within a year, the employer must offer BEM – participation is voluntary.

BEM § 167 SGB IX Integration management Repeated illness

In brief

If you were unable to work for more than six weeks within a year, either continuously or repeatedly – which is often the case with chronic exhaustion – the employer must offer you workplace integration management (betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, BEM). The aim is to clarify how incapacity for work can be overcome and renewed absences prevented – for example through adjusted tasks, working hours or a gradual return to work. Participation is voluntary for you and only takes place with your consent.

BEM applies regardless of the size of the company and regardless of whether you have a severe disability.

Step by step

Wait for the invitation or raise BEM yourselfThe employer must take action on its own initiative as soon as the six-week threshold is reached; but you can also suggest BEM yourself.
Get information before consentingYou are entitled to be told in advance which data will be collected and used, and for what purpose.
Decide freely whether to take partRefusing must not be to your disadvantage; however, it may play a role later in any dismissal because of illness (see below).
Bring a person you trustYou may bring a person you trust to the meetings and, if appropriate, involve the company doctor.
Develop measures togetherThe outcome may be, for example, a gradual return to work, a change of workplace or technical/organisational adjustments.

Deadlines

more than 6 weeks continuously or repeatedly within 12 months

Threshold from which the employer must offer BEM§ 167 Abs. 2 Satz 1 SGB IX

Watch out – common mistakes

BEM itself is not a prerequisite for a dismissal because of illness, but according to the case law of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) it plays an important role: if the employer did not offer BEM, in a dismissal protection lawsuit it must explain in particularly precise terms that measures less drastic than dismissal were not possible.
If you refuse to take part, this must not automatically be held against you as "unwillingness to listen" – however, refusing in practice reduces the chance of finding a solution together before a dismissal occurs.
The health data collected in BEM are subject to special protection; they may only be used with your consent and must not simply be passed on to third parties in the company.
For general questions on protection against dismissal in case of illness, see the Employees module.

In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals

Legal basis and threshold

§ 167 Abs. 2 Satz 1 SGB IX obliges employers, in the case of employees who were unable to work for more than six weeks within a year, either continuously or repeatedly, to clarify, with the consent and participation of the person concerned, how the incapacity for work can be overcome as far as possible, renewed incapacity for work prevented and the job retained. The competent employee representation (works or staff council) must be involved, and – in the case of severely disabled or equivalent employees – the representation of severely disabled employees as well; if necessary the company doctor is consulted (§ 167 Abs. 2 Sätze 2–7 SGB IX). The duty applies regardless of company size and disability status.

Voluntariness and data protection

BEM only takes place with the consent of the person concerned; they must be informed in advance of the aims and of the type and scope of the data collected and used. Health data are special categories of personal data (Art. 9 DSGVO) and may only be processed for the specific purpose within BEM.

Significance for a later dismissal

According to the settled case law of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht), an omitted or defective BEM is not a formal condition for the validity of a dismissal because of illness. But it tightens the employer's burden of presentation in a dismissal protection lawsuit: the employer must then, on its own initiative, set out comprehensively why less drastic measures (e.g. another job, adjustments) were ruled out – proof that is considerably harder to provide without a BEM having been carried out.

Who is responsible

Employer (offer and implementation)
Works/staff council and, where applicable, representation of severely disabled employees (participation)

Quick questions

Worum geht es bei „Workplace integration management (BEM)“?

After more than six weeks of incapacity for work within a year, the employer must offer BEM – participation is voluntary.

Which deadlines and figures matter?

more than 6 weeks continuously or repeatedly within 12 months: Threshold from which the employer must offer BEM (§ 167 Abs. 2 Satz 1 SGB IX)

What should I do first?

Wait for the invitation or raise BEM yourself: The employer must take action on its own initiative as soon as the six-week threshold is reached; but you can also suggest BEM yourself.
Get information before consenting: You are entitled to be told in advance which data will be collected and used, and for what purpose.
Decide freely whether to take part: Refusing must not be to your disadvantage; however, it may play a role later in any dismissal because of illness (see below).

What do I need to watch out for?

BEM itself is not a prerequisite for a dismissal because of illness, but according to the case law of the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) it plays an important role: if the employer did not offer BEM, in a dismissal protection lawsuit it must explain in particularly precise terms that measures less drastic than dismissal were not possible.
If you refuse to take part, this must not automatically be held against you as "unwillingness to listen" – however, refusing in practice reduces the chance of finding a solution together before a dismissal occurs.
The health data collected in BEM are subject to special protection; they may only be used with your consent and must not simply be passed on to third parties in the company.

Evidence

§ 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX (gesetze-im-internet.de)
Bundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court), case law on BEM and on the burden of presentation in dismissal because of illness (bundesarbeitsgericht.de)

As of

As of September 2026. · Sources and method

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