Long-term sick leave in the legal team: how to organise cover

Short answer: When an in-house lawyer is off sick, the expected duration decides the solution: up to two weeks, internal redistribution is usually enough; up to three months, an interim professional part-time or full-time; for longer or uncertain absences, sick leave cover with a flexible end date. In the first 48 hours, secure deadlines, appointments and signing authority. Formal roles such as data protection officer or money laundering reporting officer need their own deputy arrangement, because appointment and notification duties apply.

This guide is for general counsel, heads of legal, heads of compliance and HR in Switzerland and Germany. It covers what to do in the first days, how to set up sick leave cover in-house when the duration is unknown, what applies to formal roles and what you may say about the absence.

Short, medium or long: duration determines the solution

At the outset, the length of an absence is often unclear. Work with three scenarios and decide when you will move from one to the next. The table gives a guide.

These thresholds are planning values, not legal rules. They relate to continued pay: in Germany, the employer pays for up to 6 weeks (§ 3 EFZG); in Switzerland, 3 weeks in the first year of service and an appropriate longer period after that (Art. 324a OR), often replaced by daily sickness benefit insurance. Longer absences become expensive if law firm hours come on top.

First 48 hours: deadlines, appointments, authority, escalation

The first 48 hours are not about cover but about making sure no deadline is missed. These steps come first:

1. Secure deadlines: check the absent colleague's deadline calendar, mailbox and reminders for deadlines in the next four weeks.
2. Reschedule appointments: negotiations, meetings with authorities, board meetings and signings.
3. Check authority: who may sign in place of the absent colleague? Are there individual powers of attorney only they hold?
4. Organise access: set up delegate rights to the mailbox and files under your internal rules, ideally with the colleague's consent.
5. Announce the escalation route: tell business units who to contact, without giving reasons for the absence.
6. Assess the need: which tasks must continue, which can wait four weeks, which go to external support?

If you then need cover, a short brief helps: tasks, areas of law, languages, workload and preferred start. Alpinum usually provides shortlisted profiles within 48 hours; the company and Alpinum agree the start date together.

Uncertain duration: set up cover that can end flexibly

When the duration is uncertain, the cover needs an end date you can trigger at short notice. Contract type and fixed review dates make this possible.

Switzerland

In Personalverleih (Swiss staff leasing), open-ended assignments have short minimum notice periods: 2 days in the first 3 months and 7 days from month 4 to month 6 (Art. 19(4) AVG). There is no statutory maximum duration. This makes staff leasing a good fit for absences with no known end.

Germany

In Arbeitnehmerüberlassung (German temporary agency work), the leasing contract with the provider sets duration and notice periods. Note the 18-month cap per person and client (§ 1(1b) AÜG). A direct fixed-term hire lacks the special termination right that the Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG) provides for parental leave cover, so choose its term carefully.

In both countries

• Agree a first review after four to six weeks.
• Build in an extension option and a short notice period for ending.
• Keep the matter register so that the cover can hand back at any time.

Alpinum Solutions provides legal and compliance professionals for such cases through staff leasing and freelancing, part-time or full-time, from junior to senior level.

Formal roles during an absence: compliance officer, data protection officer, money laundering officer

If someone in a formal role is absent, functional cover is not always enough: some roles must be appointed, notified or published. The table summarises the key requirements.

In practice: for a German money laundering officer, the appointed deputy steps in first. Only if the deputy is also unavailable, or the absence is long, is a new appointment with notification needed. Interim professionals can take on formal roles through staff leasing or freelancing, depending on your requirements and the rules in each country. For the money laundering officer, regulatory requirements may rule out an external mandate or require staff leasing.

Supporting a part-time return and reintegration

After a long illness, many employees return gradually. The cover can stay on with reduced hours during this phase and hand back matters in an orderly way.

• Handback plan: which matters go back first, which does the cover close?
• Adjust hours: reduce the cover from 100 % to 40–60 % while the part-time return runs.
• Handover meeting: review open deadlines, decisions and risks together.
• Reintegration: in Germany, the employer must offer workplace integration management (betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement) if an employee is unfit for work for more than six weeks within a year, continuously or repeatedly; it only goes ahead with the employee's consent (§ 167(2) SGB IX). If a doctor finds that the employee can partly resume work, the doctor states the type and extent of possible work (gradual return to work, § 74 SGB V).

The returning colleague should not carry the full load immediately. An overlap of two to four weeks costs little compared with a relapse.

Data protection: what you may say about the absence

Internally and externally, it is enough to say that the person is absent and who is covering. Diagnosis, cause and prognosis do not belong in emails, out-of-office messages or the brief for the cover.

• Out-of-office message: "Absent; for urgent matters, please contact …", without a reason and without a return date if it is uncertain.
• Team and business units: only the absence, contacts and new processes.
• Brief for the cover: tasks and expected duration, not the person's health.
• Mailbox: access only under internal rules; do not open private messages.

Health data is a special category of personal data under the GDPR (Art. 9 GDPR) and sensitive personal data under the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (Art. 5(c)(2) FADP). If in doubt, agree the wording with HR and data protection.

Limits and risks

• Interim cover works to your priorities. Without a matter register and approval rules, gaps appear.
• If the colleague returns early, you need a short notice period. Agree it before signing.
• Alpinum provides professionals and is not a law firm. Responsibility for the legal work stays with your legal department.

Frequently asked questions about sick leave cover in legal teams

How quickly can cover be arranged?

Alpinum Solutions usually provides shortlisted profiles within 48 hours. The company and Alpinum agree the start date together; it depends on availability, interviews, contracts and system access. In Germany, a leasing contract that expressly names the arrangement as temporary agency work and identifies the individual must be in place before the assignment (§ 1(1) sentences 5–6 AÜG).

What happens if the colleague returns early?

The cover then ends or continues with reduced hours as an overlap. In Swiss staff leasing, open-ended assignments have minimum notice periods of 2 days in the first 3 months and 7 days up to month 6 (Art. 19(4) AVG). In Germany and for freelancing, the contractual notice periods apply.

Can interim cover take on a formal role?

Yes, depending on the role, your requirements and the country. An external data protection officer is permitted in Germany (Art. 37(6) GDPR). For the money laundering officer, appointment or outsourcing must be notified in advance (§ 7 GwG; BaFin at least 2 weeks before). In Switzerland, an external anti-money laundering unit is allowed under the conditions of Art. 25(4) AMLO-FINMA.

Staff leasing or freelancing when the duration is uncertain?

With an uncertain duration and integration into the team, staff leasing is usually the better fit: you direct the work and the end date stays flexible. Freelancing suits a clearly defined part of the work handled independently, such as a contract project. Close integration and instructions point towards employment, so staff leasing is the safer choice in that case.

What does sick leave cover cost?

The cost follows from day rate, workload and duration. At Alpinum, an experienced profile (3–6 years) in staff leasing costs EUR 720–960 per day in Germany and CHF 800–1,200 in Switzerland, excluding VAT (as of 18 October 2026). Example (assumption): 3 days a week for 8 weeks at EUR 840 comes to EUR 20,160 excluding VAT.

Next step

Tell us the tasks, workload and expected duration, even if it is still uncertain. We will show you which cover fits and how it can end flexibly.

• Bridging staffing shortages in legal and compliance
• Staff leasing for legal and compliance
• Interim legal and compliance costs
• Discuss your requirements

Last updated: 30 October 2026.