Overview
- The Bavarian Higher Social Court held that employees who genuinely start a job can receive Krankengeld despite preexisting conditions, rejecting an insurer’s denial based on MDK findings (L 5 KR 304/24, 2 Dec 2025).
- The Social Court of Darmstadt allowed §46 sentence 2 SGB V to bridge a Friday–Monday gap even with a new diagnosis, ordering Krankengeld to prevent a protection lapse caused by a weekend (S 8 AL 348/21).
- The Federal Social Court confirmed Krankengeld continues during approved EU travel absent misuse indications, limiting insurers’ ability to cut payments due to speculative deterioration risks (B 3 KR 23/18).
- Thuringia’s Higher Labor Court ruled that back‑to‑back sick notes with different diagnoses do not restart six weeks of wage continuation if a single continuous incapacity exists, placing the burden on workers to show a true interruption (5 Sa 154/23).
- Labor rulings underscore employer limits: illness alone does not justify dismissal without concrete disruption and negative prognosis (ArbG Dortmund, 8 Ca 1291/10) and employers who block returns must prove incapacity or face pay for acceptance default (LAG Hamm, 8 Sa 726/11).