🤝 Occupational integration management (BEM) in chronic illness

If you were unable to work due to illness for more than six weeks within twelve months, your employer must offer you a BEM – participation is voluntary.

Occupational integration management BEM Return to work Protection against dismissal § 167 SGB IX

In brief

If you were unable to work, continuously or repeatedly, for more than six weeks within the last twelve months, your employer must offer you occupational integration management (Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, BEM) – regardless of the size of the company and regardless of whether a severe disability exists. The aim is to overcome the incapacity for work, prevent renewed incapacity for work and keep your job. Participation is voluntary.

Step by step

Wait for the invitationOnce the six-week threshold is exceeded, the employer must invite you to a BEM meeting and inform you about the aims, procedure and data protection.
Decide freely whether to take partYou decide freely whether to take part in the BEM; under employment law, a refusal must not automatically count against you.
Involve those concernedDepending on the situation, the works council, the representative body for severely disabled employees, the company doctor and, with your consent, external rehabilitation bodies can be involved.
Agree on measuresPossible measures range from a gradual return to work through technical adaptation of the workplace to an internal transfer.
Mind data protectionHealth data from the BEM may only be collected, processed and used with your consent.

Deadlines

more than 6 weeks in 12 months

Threshold from which the employer must offer a BEM (continuous or repeated incapacity for work)§ 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX

Watch out – common mistakes

With chronic illnesses with recurring relapses, many shorter periods of absence over twelve months can add up to the six-week threshold – a BEM must be offered in that case too, not only for a single long illness.
A BEM that is omitted or carried out incorrectly does not automatically make a later dismissal for illness invalid, but labour courts regularly treat it as a strong indication that the dismissal was disproportionate.
This page deals with BEM with a view to chronic physical illness. For the general BEM procedure, see also the topic page in the Wegweiser Burnout & Exhaustion.

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

Legal basis and purpose

§ 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX obliges employers to offer a BEM to all employees who were unable to work, continuously or repeatedly, for more than six weeks within one year, in order to clarify, with the consent and participation of the person concerned, how the incapacity for work can be overcome as far as possible, with what benefits or aids renewed incapacity for work can be prevented, and how the job can be kept. The duty applies regardless of company size and regardless of a severe disability.

Voluntariness and data protection

Participation in the BEM is voluntary for the person concerned; the invitation must point out this voluntariness as well as the type and scope of the data collected. For severely disabled people, the representative body for severely disabled employees must be involved unless the person concerned objects.

Significance for protection against dismissal

According to the established case law of the Bundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court), a BEM that was properly offered but not carried out is not a formal condition for the validity of a dismissal for illness. In dismissal protection proceedings, however, the employer must show in particular that no milder means than dismissal were available – an omitted BEM makes this proof considerably harder.

Who is responsible

Employer (offering and carrying out the BEM)
Works council or staff council (Betriebsrat / Personalrat)
Representative body for severely disabled employees (Schwerbehindertenvertretung; in case of severe disability)

Quick questions

Worum geht es bei „Occupational integration management (BEM) in chronic illness“?

If you were unable to work due to illness for more than six weeks within twelve months, your employer must offer you a BEM – participation is voluntary.

Which deadlines and figures matter?

more than 6 weeks in 12 months: Threshold from which the employer must offer a BEM (continuous or repeated incapacity for work) (§ 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX)

What should I do first?

Wait for the invitation: Once the six-week threshold is exceeded, the employer must invite you to a BEM meeting and inform you about the aims, procedure and data protection.
Decide freely whether to take part: You decide freely whether to take part in the BEM; under employment law, a refusal must not automatically count against you.
Involve those concerned: Depending on the situation, the works council, the representative body for severely disabled employees, the company doctor and, with your consent, external rehabilitation bodies can be involved.

What do I need to watch out for?

With chronic illnesses with recurring relapses, many shorter periods of absence over twelve months can add up to the six-week threshold – a BEM must be offered in that case too, not only for a single long illness.
A BEM that is omitted or carried out incorrectly does not automatically make a later dismissal for illness invalid, but labour courts regularly treat it as a strong indication that the dismissal was disproportionate.
This page deals with BEM with a view to chronic physical illness. For the general BEM procedure, see also the topic page in the Wegweiser Burnout & Exhaustion.

Evidence

§ 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX (gesetze-im-internet.de)

As of

As of: September 2026. · Sources and method

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