Can the boss forbid a doctor's appointment?

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Does your boss cause problems because you made your doctor's appointment during working hours? However, he can only forbid you to visit the doctor under strict conditions. Note the necessary balancing of interests.

There are things that cannot be postponed or simply do not allow any alternative regulation. A doctor's appointment is usually one of them. If you are employed, however, you must also bear in mind that your employer cannot fall back on your work performance and may try to arrange a doctor's appointment during the working time to prohibit.

There must be no alternative to the doctor's appointment

  • Note the interests. After this employment contract you are obliged to work for your boss during the agreed working hours. In order to take into account the fact that certain matters cannot be postponed or cannot be settled outside of working hours, ยง 616 BGB provides a Continued payment of wages in the event that you "for a relatively insignificant period of time for a reason within your own person through no fault of your own in the service are prevented ".
  • If your boss wants to forbid you to see a doctor, you have to explain three requirements to him. First, your need for health advice or treatment is an intrinsic reason. Second, this personal reason must have arisen through no fault of you. And third, you may only be absent from work for a short time.

Alternative office hours justify a prohibition

  • Your boss must acknowledge these reasons if a visit to the doctor outside of your working hours is unreasonable or simply impossible. This can be the case if the doctor only has consultation hours in the morning or a certain treatment only during your working hours is possible.
  • If you could also make an appointment after your working hours, your boss can of course forbid you to do so during working hours. This may be the case if you work shifts or are off work on certain days of the week.
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  • If you have to see a doctor with your child, the same principles apply. In addition, it must be such that there is no other person who can take your child to the doctor.
  • If you have an operation and are absent for a longer period of time, the Remuneration Act applies, which is due to your entitlement to continued payment illness ensures.

Don't provoke your boss

  • As you can see, the question of whether your boss can forbid the doctor's appointment boils down to a weighing of interests. In principle, you can go to the doctor during working hours, but only as long as you do not have the opportunity to get a doctor's appointment outside of this. In this case, the interests of your boss must take second place to your interests.
  • Make sure that this exception doesn't become the rule, and you don't yours Workplace confused with the doctor's room. Do not provoke your boss and avoid that he will inevitably forbid you to go to the doctor's appointment at some point during working hours.
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