Workplace Reintegration (BEM)

The workplace reintegration management (Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement, BEM) is a statutory process under § 167 (2) SGB IX through which employers, together with long-term ill employees, look for ways to return to work.

The process is triggered when an employee has been unable to work for more than six weeks within a year – either consecutively or in total. With the employee's consent, the employer must initiate the BEM, examine possible measures to overcome the incapacity for work, and involve – where present – the works council, the representative for severely disabled employees and the company medical service.

The BEM is not a formal precondition for the validity of a dismissal (settled case law of the Federal Labour Court). However, if the employer omits a required BEM, it bears a heightened burden of presentation and proof in the dismissal protection proceedings: it must then demonstrate that even a BEM could not have identified a milder means than dismissal. If it cannot, an illness-related dismissal is usually disproportionate and therefore invalid. At the same time, the BEM is not a "dismissal meeting": employees should carefully review the invitation, understand their rights and seek early legal advice – especially in cases of chronic illness or mental-health conditions.