BEM meeting: the process, your rights and what you have to say

What is a BEM meeting?

BEM stands for betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, return-to-work management. The law describes it as clarifying how your incapacity for work can be overcome as far as possible, with which benefits or assistance renewed incapacity for work can be prevented and how your job can be kept (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX). Your employer carries out this clarification with you and, if there is one, with the works council or staff council (Betriebsrat, Personalrat), and for severely disabled employees additionally with the representative body for severely disabled employees (Schwerbehindertenvertretung).

The BEM meeting is where this clarification takes place. It is usually not limited to one appointment: an initial meeting is often followed by further clarifications, the implementation of measures and a meeting in which you and your employer check whether they are working. The law does not prescribe a fixed process. The German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) speaks of an open-ended search process; the legislator deliberately refrained from setting requirements as to form.

A BEM meeting is not a staff meeting about your absences and not a formal warning. It is about what can be changed in your work so that you can work in good health.

When must your employer offer a BEM?

The obligation arises if, within one year, you were unfit for work for more than six weeks either without interruption or repeatedly (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX). The following applies:

• Not a calendar year: The Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) looks at the preceding 365 days, counted from the day on which the six weeks are exceeded (BAG, judgment of 18 November 2021, 2 AZR 138/21, para. 20).
• Short illnesses are added together: The days do not have to be consecutive. Many short periods of sick leave are enough if together they exceed six weeks. How the six weeks are to be counted in working days with a five-day week is not regulated by law.
• The cause does not matter: Back pain, an operation, a mental illness or an accident count equally.
• New since 30 July 2026: The law now also mentions periods in which you are partially unfit for work (Art. 2b of the Act on Stabilising Statutory Health Insurance Contribution Rates, GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz, of 24 July 2026, Federal Law Gazette 2026 I no. 228). However, partial incapacity for work (Teilarbeitsunfähigkeit) of 25, 50 or 75% certified by a doctor under the new Sec. 44c SGB V only exists from 1 January 2028 (Art. 8 (3) of the Act).

Worked example: You are signed off sick for 3 weeks in February, 2 weeks in June and another 2 weeks in October. With the sick leave in October, you reach 7 weeks within twelve months and are therefore above the threshold. From this point on, your employer must offer you a BEM.

Which employers does this apply to? To all of them, regardless of the size of the business and the sector, as the German Pension Insurance also states. This also applies if there is no works council, and also to part-time staff. Whether a BEM is already required in the first six months of the employment is assessed differently; however, a missing BEM there usually has no consequences for a dismissal, because the Protection Against Dismissal Act (Kündigungsschutzgesetz, KSchG) does not yet apply (Sec. 1 (1) KSchG).

Repetition: If, after a completed BEM, you are again ill for more than six weeks within one year, your employer must in principle offer a new BEM (BAG, judgment of 18 November 2021, 2 AZR 138/21, headnote).

No right of your own: You can suggest a BEM, but you cannot sue for it. The Federal Labour Court does not see an individual right to the initiation and implementation of a BEM in Sec. 167 (2) SGB IX (BAG, judgment of 7 September 2021, 9 AZR 571/20). The works council or staff council and, for severely disabled people, the representative body for severely disabled employees can, by contrast, demand the clarification (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 7 SGB IX).

The invitation: what it must contain

The BEM starts with an invitation, usually in writing. Before you consent, your employer must inform you of two things (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 4 SGB IX):

• the aims of the BEM,
• the type and scope of the data that are collected and used for it.

The invitation should also state that taking part is voluntary and that you can involve a trusted person of your choice. If the information on aims and data is missing, the offer is not proper. If you refuse such an offer, your employer cannot rely on that later (BAG, judgment of 24 March 2011, 2 AZR 170/10).

A reply form, a data protection notice and a declaration on confidentiality are often enclosed. A release of your doctors from medical confidentiality (Schweigepflichtentbindung) is voluntary and can be limited to individual points.

Do you have to take part in the BEM meeting?

No. The BEM only takes place with your consent and participation (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX). You can also consent and later change your mind, or consent only to certain participants, for example the works council but not your direct line manager.

Whether you should consent depends on your situation. The legal consequences are summarised in this table:

Your decision	What happens	Significance in a later dismissal for illness
You consent	Meetings take place, measures are discussed and implemented	If sensible measures are found, the employer must in principle implement them first
You refuse after a proper invitation	No BEM	The missing BEM does not count against the employer; it is "neutral as regards dismissal" (BAG, 2 AZR 170/10)
You refuse, the invitation was defective	No BEM	The employer is treated as if it had not offered a BEM and bears the extended burden of presentation (Darlegungslast) (BAG, 2 AZR 170/10; 2 AZR 138/21, para. 16)
You ask for a later appointment	BEM is postponed	No disadvantage as long as you cooperate
You break off a BEM in progress	BEM ends	This in principle suggests that a BEM would not have produced milder means than dismissal (BAG, 2 AZR 138/21, para. 16)

Disadvantages for employees arise less from the meeting itself than from too many health details or a blanket refusal of every measure. If you take part and bring your own suggestions, you are usually in a better position in a later dismissal.

How the BEM meeting works

Because the law does not prescribe a process, many businesses regulate the BEM in a works agreement (Betriebsvereinbarung). The works council has a right of co-determination here (Sec. 87 (1) nos. 1, 6 and 7 BetrVG; BAG, order of 22 March 2016, 1 ABR 14/14). Ask whether there is such an agreement. These steps are typical:

1. Invitation and consent: You receive the invitation with the required information and decide whether and with whom you take part.
2. Initial meeting: You clarify how you are, which tasks you find difficult and whether the work itself contributes to the illness.
3. Analysis: Depending on the case, this is followed by an inspection of the workplace, an assessment by the company doctor (Betriebsarzt) or the involvement of rehabilitation providers.
4. Agreeing measures: You set out what is to change, who implements it and by when.
5. Implementation and review: After some time, you check in a further meeting whether the measures are working.
6. Conclusion: The BEM ends with a result. This can be a measure, but also the finding that none is needed (for example after a fully healed broken bone) or that no measure promises success.

Possible measures include, for example, a height-adjustable desk, technical aids, fewer night or rotating shifts, a reduction in working hours, a share of working from home, a move to another department, retraining or medical rehabilitation. If benefits for participation (Leistungen zur Teilhabe) come into consideration, your employer involves the rehabilitation providers (Rehabilitationsträger), and for severely disabled employees the Integration Office (Integrationsamt, the authority responsible for severely disabled employees) (Sec. 167 (2) sentence 5 SGB IX).

When is a BEM regarded as having failed? If you conclude that no measure is likely to reduce your absences, or if you withdraw your consent. Ask for the result in writing so that it is clear later what was discussed.

Who attends the BEM meeting?

Participants	When they attend	Basis
You	always, no BEM without you	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX
Employer, usually the HR department or a BEM officer	always	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX
Works council or staff council	if there is one and you agree	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1, Sec. 176 SGB IX; BAG, 1 ABR 14/14
Representative body for severely disabled employees	for severely disabled employees and those with equal status	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 1 SGB IX
Trusted person of your choice	if you wish	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 2 SGB IX
Company doctor	where necessary	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 3 SGB IX
Rehabilitation providers, Integration Office	if benefits for participation or accompanying assistance come into consideration	Sec. 167 (2) sentence 5 SGB IX
Direct line manager	only if it makes sense and you agree	no statutory rule

Trusted person: Since June 2021, you have been allowed to involve a trusted person of your own choice. This can be a family member, a colleague or a trade union representative. Whether a lawyer may also take part as a trusted person has not been conclusively clarified. Announce in advance that you will be accompanied.

What you should say in the BEM meeting and what not

Almost everyone asks: "What must I not say in a BEM meeting?" Nothing is forbidden in a BEM, but you do not have to say everything. A good rule of thumb: open about the effects on your work, reserved about medical details.

Sensible to discuss:

• which tasks you can do well and which you currently cannot,
• which strains at the workplace make your symptoms worse, such as lifting, standing for long periods, noise, shift changes or time pressure,
• what would help you, with specific suggestions,
• whether rehabilitation, treatment or a gradual return to work is planned.

What you do not have to say:

• your diagnosis, medication or details of your treatment,
• private circumstances that have nothing to do with work,
• assessments for which you need time to think. You may say that you will comment later.

This also applies to mental illnesses such as depression or burnout. You can describe that you currently find concentration or multiple demands difficult without naming the medical term.

Typical questions in the meeting concern your limitations, possible causes in the business, your suggestions and what you are doing yourself, for example ongoing treatment. Think about your answers in your own words beforehand.

Data protection: Health data are specially protected (Art. 9 GDPR). In the employment relationship, the employer may only process them without your express consent to the extent that this is necessary for exercising rights or fulfilling obligations under employment law or social security law and your legitimate interests do not prevail (Sec. 26 (3) BDSG). The documents from the BEM do not belong unprotected in your personnel file. The company doctor is bound by medical confidentiality.

Is severance discussed in the BEM meeting? That is not what the BEM is for. If the subject comes up anyway or you are presented with a termination agreement, do not sign it in the meeting. A termination agreement can have consequences for your unemployment benefit; what you should check beforehand is explained in the guide on the termination agreement.

Preparing for the BEM meeting: checklist

BEM meeting during illness: postpone or cancel?

A BEM meeting can also take place while you are unfit for work if you consent and feel able to, for example to plan a gradual return to work at an early stage.

If you do not feel able to, you can ask for a later appointment. Write briefly and objectively, state the reason without a diagnosis and signal that you are willing in principle. For an ordinary staff meeting during incapacity for work, the employer can only exceptionally summon you to the workplace if there is an urgent operational reason and your presence is urgently necessary and reasonable (BAG, judgment of 2 November 2016, 10 AZR 596/15). For the BEM, there is the additional point that it only takes place with your consent anyway.

There is no fixed period between the invitation and the meeting. You should have enough time to prepare and to arrange for someone to accompany you.

Working time and pay: who pays during the BEM?

• The meeting itself: If it takes place during your working hours, your pay continues.
• While you are signed off sick: Your employer pays up to six weeks of continued pay (Sec. 3 (1) EntgFG), after which the statutory health insurance fund pays sickness benefit (Sec. 44 SGB V). The BEM does not change this. Details, for example for the same illness, can be found in the guide on continued pay during illness.
• During a gradual return to work: You continue to be regarded as unfit for work (Sec. 74 SGB V speaks of "insured persons who are unfit for work"). As a rule, you receive sickness benefit or, after rehabilitation, transitional benefit (Übergangsgeld); the employer in principle does not have to pay wages for working a few hours.

BEM and gradual return to work: the difference

The two are often confused. The gradual return to work (stufenweise Wiedereingliederung), also known as the Hamburg model (Hamburger Modell), can be a result of the BEM, but is a separate instrument.

Feature	BEM	Gradual return to work
Legal basis	Sec. 167 (2) SGB IX	Sec. 74 SGB V, Sec. 44 SGB IX
Trigger	more than six weeks of incapacity for work in twelve months	a doctor's finding that you can partially carry out your work
Who initiates it	the employer	usually the doctor, on the sick note
Aim	clarify causes, find measures, keep the job	step-by-step return with increasing hours
Your status	fit or unfit for work	still unfit for work
Voluntary	yes, for you	yes, the employer must also consent

Under Sec. 74 SGB V, your doctor should regularly determine, from six weeks of incapacity for work at the latest, whether a gradual return to work is possible. The six weeks are therefore an important threshold for both instruments.

BEM meeting and dismissal

Is the BEM a preliminary stage to dismissal? No. The aim is to keep the job. It is true, however, that the BEM plays a major role in a dismissal for illness, and that some employers offer it partly for that reason.

Dismissal without a BEM: The BEM is not a formal requirement for a dismissal. However, it gives concrete form to the principle of proportionality. If your employer did not offer a BEM although it had to, it must show and prove in unfair dismissal proceedings that a BEM would not have reduced the absences either and could not have preserved the employment (BAG, judgment of 18 November 2021, 2 AZR 138/21, para. 13). Employers often do not succeed in this. Under the Protection Against Dismissal Act, the dismissal must be justified by reasons relating to your person (Sec. 1 (2) KSchG).

How many BEM meetings before dismissal? There is no fixed number. Whether a dismissal for illness is valid is examined by the courts in several stages: a negative prognosis for future absences, a significant impairment of operational interests and a balancing of interests. The BEM feeds into the question of whether there are milder means than dismissal. How the examination works in detail is explained in the guide on dismissal during illness; the requirements for a dismissal with notice as a whole can be found under ordinary dismissal.

Small business and probation: If the Protection Against Dismissal Act does not apply because your employment has not yet lasted six months (Sec. 1 (1) KSchG) or your business normally has no more than ten employees (Sec. 23 (1) KSchG, for employment relationships from 2004), a missing BEM usually has no significance for the dismissal.

Severe disability: If you are severely disabled or have equal status, your employer additionally needs the prior consent of the Integration Office for a dismissal (Sec. 168 SGB IX). This consent does not replace the BEM: it does not create a presumption that a BEM could not have prevented the dismissal (BAG, judgment of 15 December 2022, 2 AZR 162/22).

Been dismissed? Then time counts. You must file a claim against a dismissal with the labour court (Arbeitsgericht) within three weeks of receipt, otherwise it is as a rule deemed valid (Sec. 4, 7 KSchG). More on this in the guide on the deadline for an unfair dismissal claim.