Friedrich Merz said workers in Germany will have to see a doctor in person on the first day of illness from January next year if they want a sick note, ending the option to get one by phone.
The change lands as sick leave has become a political problem in Germany, where workers now average 19.5 working days off a year, up from about 13 days in 2018. Merz argued that the country can no longer afford the competitive disadvantage created by long absences from work, and he tied the move to “fairness and functionality” as the governing coalition moves ahead with wider reforms to health and social security programs.
For workers, the rule change matters because sick notes are not a minor formality. In Germany, a doctor’s note is usually required after three days of absence, and employees are entitled to 100% of their salary for up to six weeks of sick leave, paid by the employer. After that, statutory health insurance takes over and pays about 70% of gross pay, with a cap, for up to 78 weeks within three years for the same illness. That makes the system one of the world’s most generous, designed to protect recovery and keep ill people from spreading infection.
But the same protection is now at the center of the backlash. Business leaders and politicians have argued that easy access to sick leave is feeding absenteeism, and Merz has put that complaint at the heart of his crackdown. The new rule is meant to make it harder to stay home without seeing a doctor first, even as critics of the change say the system exists for a reason and that forcing people into a clinic on day one may create a different kind of burden.
The debate also looks different when Germany is compared with other countries. The United States has no federal paid sick leave requirement, while in India paid sick leave is often just a few days per year under labor laws. Germany is moving in the opposite direction: not away from protection, but toward tighter control over how quickly that protection can be claimed. What remains unclear is whether the new in-person requirement will meaningfully cut the average sick leave total, or simply make the first day of absence harder to take.
For now, the direction is plain. From January next year, the first sick day in Germany will come with a doctor’s appointment, not a phone call, and the government is betting that friction will slow down absences that have already climbed to record levels.
