If you have an accident at work or on your commute in Germany, your claims do not run against your employer — they run against the Berufsgenossenschaft (BG), the statutory accident insurer that pays your treatment, your wage replacement and, for lasting damage, a lifelong pension. The system under SGB VII is generous in coverage and no-fault by design, but it comes with a trade-off: it largely bars personal-injury claims against your employer and colleagues. Knowing how the machinery works — D-Arzt, reporting, Verletztengeld, MdE ratings — decides whether you actually receive everything it owes you.
The system: automatic cover, employer-funded
Statutory accident insurance covers every employee automatically from the first minute of the first working day — including interns, apprentices, working students and Minijobbers. There is no opt-in, no waiting period and no premium for you: contributions are paid by the employer alone. Cover is provided by sector-specific Berufsgenossenschaften for private industry and by Unfallkassen for the public sector. You do not need to know which BG is competent to make a claim — but it is on your payslip’s employer side of the world, and your employer must tell you on request.
What counts as an insured accident
Arbeitsunfall — accidents at work
An Arbeitsunfall (§ 8 Abs. 1 SGB VII) is an accident occurring in the course of the insured activity: at your workstation, in the warehouse, on a business trip, on an errand for the employer, at official company events. The connection to work is what matters — purely private activities during working hours (a personal phone call walk, a private errand) fall outside.
Wegeunfall — accidents on the commute
The commute between home and work is insured in both directions (§ 8 Abs. 2 SGB VII), whatever the mode — car, bike, foot, public transport. Insured detours include, notably:
- bringing your children to daycare or school on the way,
- detours to pick up members of a carpool,
- reasonable route variations for traffic conditions.
Genuinely private detours — the supermarket stop, the gym — are not covered while they last; cover generally revives once you rejoin the direct route, unless the interruption exceeded two hours.
Home office: full parity
Following a 2021 statutory amendment, work in the home office is insured to the same extent as work at the employer’s premises (§ 8 Abs. 1 Satz 3 SGB VII): the fall on the stairs on the way to your home desk, the walk to the printer, the trip to answer a work call are covered like their office equivalents. The first leg to daycare from the home office is insured as well. What your employer must provide for remote work is a separate question — see home-office rights.
The trade-off: no pain-and-suffering claims against the employer
Here is the part that surprises internationals most. For insured workplace accidents, §§ 104–105 SGB VII exclude personal-injury damages claims — including Schmerzensgeld — against your employer and against colleagues, unless they acted with intent. In exchange, the BG pays on a no-fault basis: nobody needs to prove negligence, and benefits flow even if the accident was largely your own fault.
The exclusion has edges worth knowing:
- Commute accidents: the liability privilege does not extend to ordinary Wegeunfälle in general traffic — a colleague who crashes into you on the public road on the way to work can be personally liable like any other driver.
- Third parties: outsiders (the delivery driver, another company’s forklift operator) are fully liable — Schmerzensgeld claims against them run in parallel to BG benefits.
- Intent: deliberate harm removes the privilege entirely.
What the BG pays
Heilbehandlung — treatment without co-pays
The BG covers medical treatment at 100%: surgery, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, aids, specialised BG accident clinics — no co-payments, no budget limits of the ordinary health-insurance world. Its statutory mandate is restoration „with all suitable means”.
Verletztengeld — wage replacement
For the first six weeks of incapacity your employer pays full salary as ordinary sick pay (see Entgeltfortzahlung). After that, the BG pays Verletztengeld: 80% of your regular gross pay, capped at your net pay, from which small employee social-contribution shares are deducted — noticeably more than the Krankengeld of the health insurer. It runs for up to 78 weeks.
Verletztenrente — the accident pension
If the accident leaves a permanent reduction in earning capacity (Minderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit, MdE) of at least 20%, the BG pays a Verletztenrente: the full pension (at MdE 100%) is two-thirds of your last annual gross earnings, and partial MdE ratings pay proportionally. The pension is paid on top of any salary you earn — it compensates the abstract loss of capacity, not concrete lost income. Return-to-work support, retraining and gradual reintegration (see Wiedereingliederung) are part of the package.
Your formal steps after an accident
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See a Durchgangsarzt (D-Arzt)
After a work or commute accident you must present to a D-Arzt — a specially licensed accident doctor — if you are unfit for work beyond the accident day or treatment lasts beyond about a week. The D-Arzt steers the BG treatment; your GP alone is not enough.
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Document the accident
Time, place, exact activity, witnesses, photos — and for a Wegeunfall the route taken and why. Disputes are won on the details recorded in the first days.
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Make sure it is reported
The employer must report any accident causing more than three days of incapacity to the BG (§ 193 SGB VII). Do not rely on this: you can and should report directly to the BG if the employer hesitates.
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Check the BG's decisions
Recognition of the accident, the MdE rating, benefit calculations — each arrives as a formal notice (Bescheid) with appeal deadlines. Read them, keep them, challenge them in time.
Should you add private accident insurance?
The BG covers only work-related accidents — statistically the minority. Falls at the weekend, sports injuries and household accidents are not covered at all, and Verletztenrente only begins at MdE 20%. A private accident policy paying lump sums for permanent damage regardless of where the accident happened is a sensible supplement for most employees — it does not reduce or offset BG benefits.
Worked example
A software engineer in Bonn, gross €4,200 per month (net about €2,750), is knocked off her bicycle by a car on the direct commute and breaks her wrist badly. Four months of incapacity, surgery, physiotherapy.
The sequence: weeks 1–6, full salary from the employer (€4,200 gross per month). From week 7, Verletztengeld: 80% of gross is €3,360, capped at the net of €2,750; after contribution shares she receives roughly €2,420 per month — noticeably above the ~€2,200 Krankengeld would have paid. All treatment runs through the D-Arzt and a BG clinic at zero cost. The wrist heals with permanent movement restriction; the BG assesses MdE 20%. Result: a Verletztenrente of 20% of the full pension — two-thirds of her annual gross of €50,400 is €33,600, so she receives €6,720 per year, about €560 per month, paid on top of her full salary after her return. Because a third-party driver caused the accident, we additionally pursue Schmerzensgeld and household-assistance damages of €12,000 against the driver’s liability insurer — claims the BG system leaves untouched.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim Schmerzensgeld from my employer for a workplace accident?
Generally no — §§ 104–105 SGB VII bar it unless the employer acted with intent. Claims against liable third parties remain fully available, and for accidents in general traffic on the commute, even colleagues can be personally liable.
Am I insured while working from home?
Yes — work in the home office enjoys statutory parity with the office. The line runs between work-related movements (covered) and purely private interludes (not covered); documentation of what you were doing matters.
The BG refuses my Wegeunfall because I took a detour. Is that final?
No. Detours for children’s daycare, carpools and traffic are expressly insured, and cover often revives after private interruptions. File the Widerspruch within one month — detour cases are among the most frequently overturned BG decisions.
Does Verletztengeld use up my Krankengeld entitlement?
No — they are separate systems. Verletztengeld runs up to 78 weeks under the accident-insurance rules and is calculated more generously than Krankengeld.
My employer does not want to report the accident. What now?
Report it to the BG yourself — any insured person can. The employer’s reporting duty for incapacity beyond three days is statutory, and pressuring you not to report is a serious red flag worth documenting.