Germany Moves to Require Sick Notes on Day One

A worker wakes up coughing, stays home, and under Germany's proposed rules would have to head straight to a doctor's office anyway. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition has agreed to require medical certificates from the first day of illness and end sick notes issued by phone. The plan, part of a broader economic reform package, has triggered a fight over productivity, medical capacity, and trust at work.

How Events Unfolded

Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union and the center-left Social Democrats agreed to the change as part of a package covering taxes, labor, pensions, industry, and bureaucracy. Under the current system, a certificate is generally required only when a worker is unable to work for more than three days, although employers can ask for one earlier.

The proposed rule would move that requirement to day one and end phone sick notes, a practice introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. DW's review of German sick leave says the change is planned for January 2027. The coalition says stricter documentation will improve competitiveness.

The political argument centers on a sharp rise in recorded sick leave. IGES Institute research cited by DW put the average at 19.5 working days per year, up from about 13 days in 2018. CDU parliamentary leader Jens Spahn separately cited around 18 days per employee.

The Fine Print

Germany's system is far more generous than the one many Americans know. Workers receive 100% of salary for up to six weeks, paid by the employer. After that, statutory health insurance can pay about 70% of gross pay, subject to a cap, for up to 78 weeks within three years for the same illness.

One reason recorded absences have risen may be better data. IGES said Germany's electronic sick-note system, fully effective in 2023, captures short absences that previously went unrecorded. The research also pointed to post-pandemic behavior, with workers more likely to stay home when they have cold or flu symptoms, plus more mental-health-related absences and persistent musculoskeletal problems such as back pain.

For US readers, the contrast is especially sharp: the United States has no federal paid sick leave requirement, and OECD data cited by DW put Americans at 1.1 weeks of sick leave in 2024.

The Response

Merz has defended the plan as an economic necessity. The BBC reported his defense of the change after the coalition agreement.

We can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by long periods of absence from work.

Doctors and unions see a different risk: packed waiting rooms and a policy that treats ordinary illness as a compliance problem. Frank Werneke, head of the Verdi services union, accused the government of creating a culture of distrust. Labor Minister Bärbel Bas said the first-day certificate requirement was not her proposal and that she would examine whether it works or creates difficulties.

We now need to put sensible arrangements in place for what has been proposed in the coalition committee.

Medical organizations have been more blunt. The KBV, which represents statutory health insurance physicians, warned against sending people with coughs or gastrointestinal infections into crowded surgeries simply to obtain paperwork.

Putting It in Perspective

The immediate consequence is practical. A one-day stomach bug or fever could require a doctor's appointment that the current system often avoids. Family doctors argue this would add bureaucracy, lengthen waits, and bring infectious patients into clinics even when rest at home would be enough.

For employers, the attraction is documentation from the start of an absence. For workers, the cost is an extra hurdle at the moment they are sick. The policy turns a broad economic question into a daily workplace test: whether stricter verification reduces absence enough to justify added pressure on doctors and genuinely ill employees.

Germany is arguing over how to police a generous national framework; American workers often face the opposite problem, with paid sick days depending on the employer.

Looking Ahead

The coalition has agreed on the direction, but implementation still depends on the parliamentary process. DW says parliament is expected to vote on the wider package by the end of 2026, with the sick-note changes planned for January 2027.

Bas has said she will examine the day-one certificate requirement, while Klingbeil has called for workable arrangements. What is confirmed is the coalition's push to end phone sick notes and require earlier medical documentation as part of its economic reform agenda.