"Germans enjoy some of the most generous employee illness policies in Europe, a fact which the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says is undermining efforts to kickstart the EU's biggest economy whose growth has largely stalled since 2022. At a regional campaign event last weekend, Merz said staff took an average 14.5 sick days per year too high, he said. That's nearly three weeks in which people in Germany don't work due to illness, he said."
"Merz's health minister, Nina Warken, said she would take the matter on board with a critical review of the practice, most commonly used for minor illnesses not requiring medical treatment such as colds, flu and Covid-19. Compared with other countries, sick leave in Germany is high, Warken told Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper. The truth is that the low-threshold option of reporting sick by telephone can be abused, she said. That is exactly what we will tackle."
German proposal would end telephone-issued short-term sick notes to curb perceived abuse and reduce high sick-leave levels. Chancellor Friedrich Merz cited an average of 14.5 sick days per employee annually and blamed phone notes for making it easy to bunk off. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) supported the change, arguing fitness for work cannot be reliably assessed by phone. Health minister Nina Warken signalled a critical review, noting many phone certificates cover minor illnesses such as colds, flu and Covid-19. The SPD warned mandatory in-person visits would amount to harassment, with MP Karl Lauterbach opposing compulsion.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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