German row over plan for workers to need sick note on first day of illness
Controversy broke out in Germany after the coalition government announced changes to sick leave rules, requiring Germans to provide their employers with a doctor’s note on the first day of their illness.
The changes also mean workers will not be able to receive the note by phone, and a measure introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic is also being scrapped.
“The number of sick days in Germany is very high,” said Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Under current rules, a certificate is required if a person is incapacitated for more than three days, i.e. on the fourth day, although employers have the right to request a sickness certificate earlier.
The plans were accepted by Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD).
“This is a difficult decision,” the chancellor said. “But we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by long periods away from work.”
Merz said the government would not accept “exorbitant” levels of sick leave following the epidemic.
Germany is “returning to the regulations that existed before the coronavirus pandemic,” he told ARD TV on Thursday night.
“At the same time, it is the responsibility of individual businesses to agree other regulations.”
Medical groups strongly criticized the plans.
KBV, a national association representing statutory health insurance doctors, said forcing thousands of people to go to doctors’ surgeries just to fill out forms was “bordering on insanity”.
“Anyone with a cough or gastrointestinal infection should be in bed, not in an overcrowded surgery,” it said in a statement.
The Association of General Practitioners has warned that cases of infection requiring only a day or two in bed will crowd doctors’ waiting rooms.
SPD leader Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil tried to calm the situation, telling RTL TV that he was looking for “feasible solutions”.
“We now need to make sensible adjustments to what was proposed in the coalition committee,” he said.
Minister of Labor Bärbel Bas, also from the SPD, said that he would investigate the obligation to provide a doctor’s report on the first day of illness.
“This was not my offer,” Bas told RTL.
“We will look at whether this actually has any impact or is more likely to cause difficulties.”
But CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn defended the plans.
He said Germany’s sick leave rate was among the steepest in the EU.
“We have one of the highest rates of sick days per employee per year, at approximately 18 sick days,” he said.
“And those who are really sick should of course be able to stay at home.”
The changes were adopted as part of sweeping tax, labor and pension reforms aimed at stimulating Germany’s economy.
