Overview

• North Rhine-Westphalia’s Higher Administrative Court on August 12 upheld the April 2025 order for an amtsärztliche examination and declared the decision final and not subject to appeal.
• The teacher has been on continuous sick leave since 2009 without returning to duty, and her challenge failed after the Düsseldorf administrative court had already ruled for the employer.
• The court criticized the employer’s years-long inaction as “not comprehensible” but concluded that the authority to require a fitness review does not expire over time.
• A psychiatric component is permitted, the judges said, because the teacher submitted attestations from a neurology and psychiatry center.
• The teacher must bear the legal costs, and the ruling underscores the fiscal rationale that civil servants receiving full salary during illness must be assessed for duty fitness or retirement.