Bullying at work: what counts, how to prove it and what rights you have

What is bullying at work?

No statute defines bullying. The Federal Labour Court states expressly that "bullying" is not a legal term and not a separate basis for a claim (BAG, judgment of 28 October 2010, 8 AZR 546/09, para. 17). The question is whether individual acts violate duties under the employment contract, your health or your general right of personality (allgemeines Persönlichkeitsrecht).

The special feature: acts that each seem harmless on their own can together amount to a violation of rights if there is a system and an aim behind them. In that case, all incidents that belong to this process count, including older ones (BAG, judgment of 15 September 2016, 8 AZR 351/15, para. 38). The line is crossed when conduct has the purpose or effect of violating your dignity and creating an environment characterised by intimidation, hostility, degradation, humiliation or insults (para. 37). This formula corresponds to harassment under Sec. 3 (3) AGG.

In everyday language, bullying is described as the systematic hostility, harassment or discrimination of employees among themselves or by superiors. By direction, a distinction is made between bullying among colleagues, bossing (by superiors) and staffing (by employees against their manager).

If the conduct is linked to racist reasons, your ethnic origin, your sex, your religion or belief, a disability, your age or your sexual identity (Sec. 1 AGG), it is at the same time a disadvantage under the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG). Additional rights and a short deadline then apply.

When does it become bullying? Conflict or bullying

Not every dispute is bullying. Differences of opinion, normal conflicts and even individual unjustified measures such as a formal warning (Abmahnung), a transfer or a dismissal do not automatically violate your rights, even if the conflict drags on for a long time (BAG, 8 AZR 351/15, paras. 36 and 37). The assessment is objective, not based on how you feel. There is no statutory minimum duration or minimum number of incidents.

Situation	More likely a normal conflict	More likely to indicate bullying
Criticism	factual, about a specific piece of work	sweeping, personal, in front of others, again and again
Tone	irritated once, then cleared up	regularly belittling or intimidating
Tasks	redistributed for understandable reasons	withdrawn without reason, pointless tasks, deliberate overload
Information	forgotten once	permanently not invited, not informed
Colleagues	argument about a factual issue	rumours, refusal of contact, group against one person
Course	single incident	pattern over weeks or months, always the same person

Even a single incident can be unlawful, for example as an insult or as harassment under the AGG.

Examples of bullying at work

• Work: constant unjustified criticism, withdrawal of tasks without objective reason, pointless or hurtful work, deliberate overload, withheld information.
• Exclusion: not greeted, not invited to meetings, excluded from team chats.
• Reputation: rumours, being shown up in front of colleagues or customers, disparaging remarks about appearance, origin or private life.
• Pressure on the employment relationship: formal warnings over trivialities, threats of dismissal, pressure to sign a termination agreement.
• Body and health: threats, sexual innuendo or touching, physical assaults.

Silent bullying

With silent bullying, there are no open attacks: you are passed over, not informed, ignored. This is difficult to prove. So write down who failed to invite or inform you and when, and what consequences this had for your work.

Bossing: bullying by superiors

If the bullying comes from your manager, turn to the next level up, the HR department or the works council. Important: the employer is liable for culpable violations of rights by superiors and colleagues whom it uses as vicarious agents (Erfüllungsgehilfen) (Sec. 278 BGB). A close connection with the assigned tasks is required; the BAG regularly assumes this if the person has the authority to give you instructions (BAG, 8 AZR 351/15, para. 32).

Superiors often use formal warnings as a means of pressure. An unjustified formal warning is not bullying on its own, but it can be part of a pattern. How to defend yourself is shown in the guide on formal warnings in employment law.

What to do about bullying at work: step by step

Later claims often depend on you having informed the employer and the employer not having reacted. So proceed in this order:

1. Write it down. Keep a bullying diary from today and note every incident on the same day.
2. Secure evidence. Emails, chats, duty rosters, formal warnings.
3. Set a boundary if it is safe. State calmly which behaviour must stop. In the case of threats or harassment, you do not need a one-to-one conversation.
4. Complain in writing to your superior, the next level up or the HR department, and in cases of discrimination to the AGG complaints office. Have receipt confirmed.
5. Involve the works council, if there is one.
6. Demand a remedy. If nobody reacts, call on the employer in writing to protect you.
7. See a doctor if you have symptoms. This protects you and documents the consequences.
8. Get legal advice before you resign, sign a termination agreement or a deadline expires.

What you should not do

• Simply stay at home: without medically certified incapacity for work, you risk a formal warning or dismissal.
• Record secretly: unauthorised recordings of words spoken in private are a criminal offence (Sec. 201 StGB).
• Hit back: if you insult others yourself, you provide grounds for a formal warning.
• Denounce publicly: accusations naming people on social networks can be defamation (üble Nachrede) if you cannot prove them (Sec. 186 StGB).

Proving bullying: bullying diary and other evidence

Anyone who asserts claims because of bullying must set out and prove the individual acts (BAG, 8 AZR 351/15, para. 38). A medical finding that is "typical of bullying" does not replace this proof; the BAG rejected such an easing of the burden of proof (8 AZR 546/09, para. 30). The certificate proves the consequences, not the cause. It only becomes easier with a characteristic under Sec. 1 AGG: if you prove indications of a disadvantage, the other side must prove that there was no violation (Sec. 22 AGG).

Checklist for your bullying diary: what goes in

• date, time, place
• who acted and who was present
• what happened, with remarks quoted word for word where possible
• consequences for work and health, medical appointments
• whom you reported to and how they reacted
• what evidence there is

What does not go in: assumptions about motives presented as facts, insults against the other person, generalisations such as "everyone is against me".

Notes made promptly and factually are more credible than a list you write months later. Approach colleagues who have observed incidents early on. Anyone who testifies as a witness about a disadvantage under the AGG must not be disadvantaged because of it (Sec. 16 (1) sentence 2 AGG).

Where you can complain about bullying

• Within the business (Sec. 84 BetrVG): to the responsible bodies, even without a works council. You can bring in a member of the works council. The employer must tell you how it is handling the complaint and remedy the situation to the extent that it considers the complaint justified. Disadvantages because of the complaint are prohibited (Sec. 84 (3) BetrVG).
• To the works council (Sec. 85 BetrVG): it receives complaints and works towards a remedy. In a dispute with the employer, it can call on the conciliation board (Einigungsstelle), unless the matter concerns a legal claim.
• AGG complaints office (Sec. 13 AGG): for disadvantages on grounds of a characteristic under Sec. 1 AGG. Which office is responsible must be made known in the business (Sec. 12 (5) AGG).
• Other bodies: in the public sector, the staff council (Personalrat) (at federal level Sec. 62 no. 3 BPersVG, in the federal states under the relevant staff representation act), the representative body for severely disabled employees, trade unions, advice centres and, in cases of discrimination, the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes) (Sec. 27 AGG).

Sick leave because of bullying

You are not signed off sick "because of bullying", but because of an illness, such as an anxiety disorder, depression or physical symptoms. The normal rules then apply: you report your incapacity for work without delay (Sec. 5 (1) EntgFG). The employer continues to pay you for up to 6 weeks if the employment relationship has existed for at least 4 weeks (Sec. 3 EntgFG); after that, the health insurance fund usually pays sickness benefit (Krankengeld). More on continued pay during illness. The employer does not learn the diagnosis: for employees with statutory health insurance, it retrieves the sick note from the health insurance fund, with name, start and end of the incapacity for work, date of the finding, first or follow-up certificate and an indication of an accident; the law does not provide for a diagnosis here (Sec. 109 (1) SGB IV).

How long is for the doctor to decide. If you are unfit for work for more than 6 weeks in a row or repeatedly within one year, the employer must offer you return-to-work management (betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, BEM) (Sec. 167 (2) SGB IX), see BEM meeting. Sick leave does not protect you against dismissal, see dismissal during sick leave.

May you refuse to work?

Only within narrow limits. If the employer takes no measures or obviously unsuitable measures against harassment or sexual harassment, you may stop working without losing your pay, to the extent necessary for your protection (Sec. 14 AGG). This applies to harassment related to a characteristic under Sec. 1 AGG. For other bullying, it depends on the individual case. If you are wrong, staying away is a breach of duty. Have this checked beforehand.

Your claims: injunction, damages, compensation for pain and suffering

Aim	Claim	Legal basis	What matters
End the bullying	Protection by the employer	Sec. 241 (2) BGB, Sec. 12 AGG	the employer knows about the incidents
Stop the acts	Injunction against the bullying person	Sec. 823, 1004 BGB by analogy	risk of repetition
Loss of earnings, treatment costs	Damages	Sec. 280 (1) in conjunction with Sec. 278 BGB, Sec. 823 (1) BGB	breach of duty, damage, causal link, fault
Compensation for damage to health	Compensation for pain and suffering	Sec. 253 (2) BGB	proven damage to health
Compensation for violated dignity	Monetary compensation	Sec. 823 (1) BGB in conjunction with Art. 1, 2 (1) GG	serious interference
Compensation for discrimination	Damages, compensation	Sec. 15 (1), (2) AGG	characteristic under Sec. 1 AGG, assertion within 2 months

Claims can be directed against the employer and against the bullying person themselves if that person has unlawfully violated your health or your right of personality (Sec. 823 (1) BGB). In case 8 AZR 838/13, an employee sued his former superior personally for compensation for pain and suffering.

How much compensation for pain and suffering for bullying?

There are no fixed amounts. The BAG distinguishes two routes (8 AZR 351/15, paras. 34 and 35): if your health has been harmed, there is reasonable compensation under Sec. 253 (2) BGB; you must prove that the acts caused the illness. If your right of personality has been violated, there is money only in the case of a serious interference that cannot be compensated in any other way. What matters is the significance and scope of the interference, its occasion and motive and the degree of fault.

The hurdles are high: in case 8 AZR 351/15, an employee claimed €5,000 and the action failed. In case 8 AZR 546/09, an employee claimed at least €35,000; the BAG referred the case back because of a procedural error. Both are claims, not amounts awarded.

Limitation and forfeiture

Damages and compensation for pain and suffering usually become time-barred after 3 years, calculated from the end of the year in which the claim arose and you became aware of it or would have become aware of it without gross negligence (Sec. 195, 199 (1) BGB). Merely waiting does not make the claim lapse: forfeiture (Verwirkung) only comes into consideration in very special circumstances, and difficulties of proof for the other side are not enough (BAG, judgment of 11 December 2014, 8 AZR 838/13, paras. 26 and 30). Exclusion periods (Ausschlussfristen) in employment contracts or collective agreements can be much shorter. More on limitation periods.

Is bullying at work a criminal offence?

There is no criminal offence of "bullying". However, individual acts can be criminal offences:

Act	Offence
belittling remarks, verbal abuse	insult, Sec. 185 StGB
defamatory rumours that cannot be proven true	defamation (üble Nachrede), Sec. 186 StGB
knowingly false allegations	intentional defamation (Verleumdung), Sec. 187 StGB
damaging health, physical abuse	bodily harm, Sec. 223 StGB
forcing someone to do something by threatening serious harm	coercion, Sec. 240 StGB
threatening an offence against life and limb, liberty or sexual self-determination	threat, Sec. 241 StGB
repeated stalking, also by message	stalking, Sec. 238 StGB
secret sound recordings, passing on compromising images	Sec. 201, 201a StGB
sexually motivated touching	sexual harassment, Sec. 184i StGB

Exclusion, silence or constant criticism usually remain below the threshold of criminal law. Insult, defamation and intentional defamation are generally only prosecuted upon request (Sec. 194 (1) StGB), as is bodily harm, unless the public prosecutor's office affirms a special public interest (Sec. 230 StGB). You have 3 months from knowledge of the offence and the offender to file a request for prosecution (Strafantrag) (Sec. 77b StGB). Criminal complaints and requests for prosecution are accepted by the police, the public prosecutor's office and the local court (Amtsgericht) (Sec. 158 (1) StPO). Criminal proceedings do not get you compensation for pain and suffering; you claim that under civil law.

Deadlines for bullying at a glance

What	Deadline	Start	Basis
Resigning without notice yourself	2 weeks	knowledge of the relevant facts	Sec. 626 (2) BGB
Claim against a dismissal by the employer	3 weeks	receipt of the written dismissal	Sec. 4 KSchG
Asserting claims under the AGG	2 months, in writing	knowledge of the disadvantage	Sec. 15 (4) AGG (a collective agreement may deviate)
Suing for compensation under the AGG	3 months	written assertion	Sec. 61b (1) ArbGG
Request for prosecution	3 months	knowledge of the offence and the offender	Sec. 77b StGB
Damages, compensation for pain and suffering	3 years	end of the year after the claim arose and knowledge	Sec. 195, 199 (1) BGB
Exclusion period in the contract	according to the clause	according to the clause	employment contract or collective agreement

Resigning because of bullying?

Many of those affected see resignation as the only way out. Check the consequences first.

Ordinary: As an employee, the statutory notice period is 4 weeks to the 15th or to the end of a calendar month (Sec. 622 (1) BGB), unless your contract or a collective agreement provides otherwise; see notice period as an employee.

Without notice: Only for good cause, if you cannot reasonably be expected to continue until the end of the notice period (Sec. 626 (1) BGB), and only within 2 weeks of becoming aware of the relevant facts (Sec. 626 (2) BGB). As a rule, you must first have called on the employer to remedy the situation without success. If the employer caused the resignation through conduct in breach of contract, it must compensate you for the resulting damage (Sec. 628 (2) BGB). More on extraordinary dismissal and summary dismissal.

Benefit suspension: Anyone who resigns or concludes a termination agreement risks a benefit suspension (Sperrzeit) on unemployment benefit, usually of 12 weeks, unless they have good cause (Sec. 159 SGB III). The technical instructions (Fachliche Weisungen, FW) of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) expressly name "considerable psychological pressure, bullying or sexual harassment at the workplace" as good cause (FW 159.1.2.1, as of July 2026). It is only recognised if you made a reasonable attempt to remove the causes without success, or such an attempt would have been unsuccessful, and you could not have ended the employment relationship only at a later date (FW 159.1.2 (4)). The agency examines good cause of its own motion; if the reasons lie within your sphere and cannot be clarified in this way, you must prove them (FW 159.1.2 (2)): complaints, your diary and medical records help.

Termination agreement: Do not sign under pressure, see termination agreement.

Been dismissed? The claim must reach the labour court (Arbeitsgericht) within 3 weeks of receipt (Sec. 4 KSchG), see deadline for an unfair dismissal claim. A lawyer reviews your dismissal at a fixed price of €169 including VAT: have your dismissal reviewed.

For employers: duties when bullying is alleged

You must take the well-being of your employees into account, protect them against health risks, including psychological ones, and must not expose them to a degrading environment (Sec. 241 (2) BGB; BAG, 8 AZR 351/15, para. 31). You are liable for managers under Sec. 278 BGB. These points belong on your list:

• Designate a complaints office and make it known in the business (Sec. 12 (5) AGG).
• Examine every complaint and communicate the outcome (Sec. 84 (2) BetrVG, Sec. 13 (1) AGG).
• Hear both sides and document the outcome.
• React appropriately, up to a formal warning, reassignment, transfer or dismissal of the perpetrator; for disadvantages under the AGG, Sec. 12 (3) AGG expressly requires this. There, you must also protect against customers and other third parties (Sec. 12 (4) AGG).
• Do not disadvantage anyone because of a complaint (Sec. 84 (3) BetrVG, Sec. 16 AGG).
• Record psychological stress in the risk assessment (Gefährdungsbeurteilung) (Sec. 5 (3) no. 6 ArbSchG).
• Involve the works council where its rights are affected, for example for rules of conduct (Sec. 87 (1) no. 1 BetrVG), for a transfer of the perpetrator in companies with more than 20 employees entitled to vote (Sec. 99 (1) BetrVG) and before any dismissal (Sec. 102 (1) BetrVG). It can also demand the transfer or dismissal of a disruptive employee itself (Sec. 104 BetrVG).

For a legally sound formal warning or dismissal of a bullying employee, our employment lawyer can help you.