Notification of Severely Disabled Employees by March 31, 2025

In order to check compliance with this quota and determine any compensatory levy, employers are obliged to notify the Federal Employment Agency of the number of severely disabled employees in the previous calendar year by 31 March in a formalized reporting procedure. The so-called notification of severely disabled employees for the calendar year 2024 must therefore be submitted by March 31, 2025. This statutory deadline cannot be extended. If the notification is intentionally or negligently not submitted (on time), or submitted incorrectly resp. incompletely, this is an administrative offense which might be punished with a fine of up to EUR 10,000.

At the same time as the notification is submitted, at the latest by March 31, 2025, any compensation levy payable must be transferred to the integration office responsible for the employer’s head office. Late payment penalties will be charged for overdue amounts of the compensatory levy.

Calculation of the quota

When calculating the quota, companies with less than 40 resp. less than 60 employees are privileged insofar as a fixed quota applies to these companies.

This means that employers who employ an annual average of 20-39 employees per month must fill one position with a severely disabled person. If the number of jobs is 40-59, two positions must be filled accordingly.

A precise calculation is carried out starting from a number of 60 employees, in which fractions are to be rounded in accordance with the general rules.

Example

• A company has an annual average of 65 employees: 5% of 65 = 3.25 ≈ 3 → Obligation to employ three severely disabled employees.
• One company employs an annual average of 75 people: 5% of 75 = 3.75 ≈ 4 → Obligation to employ four severely disabled employees.

The following jobs are not taken into account when calculating the threshold value:

•  Positions that are occupied by trainees.
• Positions that are occupied for a maximum period of 8 weeks.
• Positions in which employees are employed for less than 18 hours per week, unless a severely disabled person is employed in a partial workplace for less than 18 hours per week because this is deemed necessary due to the nature and severity of the disability.

Compensatory levy

If employers do not meet the mandatory quota, they must pay a so-called compensatory levy instead. This must generally be paid by March 31 for the previous calendar year.

This compensatory levy amounts to:

• EUR 140.00 if an employer with up to 39 employees employs more than zero but less than one severely disabled person on an annual average. This would be the case, for example, if a severely disabled person leaves the company before the end of the year and is therefore not employed for the whole year. If no severely disabled persons are employed at all, the compensatory levy is set at EUR 210.00.
• EUR 245.00 if an employer with more than 39 but less than 60 employees employs more than zero but less than one severely disabled person on an annual average. If more than one but less than two severely disabled persons are employed on an annual average, it amounts to EUR 140.00 per month per unoccupied compulsory workplace. If no severely disabled persons are employed, the compensatory levy is set at EUR 410.00 per unoccupied compulsory workplace.
• If there are at least 60 employees, the compensatory levy is EUR 140.00 per unfilled compulsory job if the quota of severely disabled employees is between 3% and 5%, EUR 245.00 if the quota is between 2% and 3%, and EUR 360.00 if the quota is less than 2%.

In the case of a “0%-quota”, a further level applies for the first time this year. If no severely disabled persons are employed at all, the equalization levy will amount to EUR 720.00 per unfilled mandatory position.

Notification procedure

The notification of severe disabilities can be made completely electronically using the IW-Elan software; downloading and using the software is free of charge.

Alternatively, a notification in paper form is also possible; the relevant forms can be obtained from the Federal Employment Agency.

The notification must be submitted to the employment agency responsible for your company’s registered office. You can find out which employment agency is responsible for your company’s registered office here.

In general, a retrospective correction of the notification for previous years is possible. If employers subsequently discover that they have paid a too high compensatory levy for previous years – unaware of the severely disabled status of one or more employees – a refund or offsetting against future payments can be achieved by means of a corrective notification. The deadline for reimbursement due to the subsequent notification of employed severely disabled persons ends at the end of the calendar year following receipt of the notification by the employment agency. For a correction relating to the notification of 2023, for example, the deadline ends on December 31, 2025.

Further information (only in German) can also be found in the Federal Employment Agency’s “Erläuterungen zum Anzeigeverfahren 2024”.

If you require assistance with the notification procedure or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Photo: shutterstock / Drazen Zigic