Change in the law: Dismissals of severely disabled employees without the involvement of the representative body for severely disabled employees are invalid

The representative body for severely disabled employees must therefore always be properly involved in future cases of dismissal of severely disabled employees - this also applies to notices of change.

The new regulation also covers dismissals that are issued during the first 6 months of the employment relationship.

Special problems can arise - similar to the involvement of the Integration Office - in cases in which the employee has kept their severely disabled status secret from the employer or in which the recognition of the severely disabled status has not yet been determined by official decision, but the determination has already been applied for:

Similar to the involvement of the Integration Office, the employee who had previously kept his or her severe disability secret can invoke the severe disability within a reasonable period of time (usually 3 weeks) after receiving notice of dismissal. The dismissal is then invalid and must be made up for by fulfilling the requirements specific to severely disabled employees.

In addition, employees who have submitted an application for recognition of their severely disabled status to the competent authority no later than three weeks prior to receipt of the notice of termination may invoke their severely disabled status if the severe disability is obvious and the decision issued later dates back to the time of termination.