Sick for 15 years, but founded a startup? The unbelievable case of a civil servant makes people shake their heads!

Sick leave - with full salary and own practice?

Imagine this: A teacher calls in sick - and stays sick for 15 years. During this time, she receives her full civil servant's salary month after month - between 5,000 and 6,100 euros gross. At the same time, the woman is said to have worked as a non-medical practitioner and even founded a medical start-up. What sounds like satire actually happened in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia - in Duisburg and Wesel to be precise.

Authorities failing across the board?

The teacher in question was employed at the Berufskolleg Wesel - at least on paper. The current principal doesn't even know her by name, nor does his predecessor. The woman had been on duty since the 2003/2004 school year, but just a few years later she was on permanent sick leave - allegedly with mental health problems.

The case was not discovered until 2025 during a file review. The school inspectorate asked the civil servant to undergo a medical examination. The aim: to clarify whether she would ever be able to work again - or not.

However, the teacher took legal action against this order - but lost before both the Düsseldorf Administrative Court and the Münster Higher Administrative Court. The latter clearly emphasized: "Even if the authorities remained inactive for a long time, the employer does not lose the right to demand a medical examination."

Alternative practitioner instead of school lessons?

Particularly explosive: while the civil servant was ill according to certificates, she is said to have worked as a non-medical practitioner - listed under her real name on appointment booking platforms. And that's not all: she is also said to have founded a medical start-up and even received state funding for it.

What looks like an isolated case throws a harsh light on the blind spots in the German civil service system. How can someone be on sick leave for 15 years without any checks? How could it be that a teacher was fully paid but remained completely invisible to her school, colleagues and superiors?

Politicians under pressure - public stunned

The case has now also reached state politics. NRW Schools Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) expressed her astonishment: "For me, there are also a lot of question marks because I have never experienced a case like this myself."

The Düsseldorf district government now wants to provide comprehensive clarification. Late, but still. The Higher Administrative Court also clearly criticized the fact that no effective steps had been taken for years. The teacher in question now not only has to see a public health officer, but also pay 2,500 euros in court costs herself. Will that be the only consequence?

Not a case of illness, but a system error

Apparently, they didn't look for years - or looked the other way. And this is no small story about a supposedly resourceful civil servant - this is a scandal about control failure, blindness on the part of the authorities and a duty of care that has mutated into self-service.

If the suspicion is confirmed that the woman founded a startup and treated patients while on sick leave, then it will take more than a visit to the public health officer. Then it's a matter of reclaims, disciplinary proceedings - and consequences in the system that makes something like this possible in the first place.