New German rules require a doctor’s note from day one of illness
Germany’s governing coalition has agreed to require workers to provide a doctor’s note to their employer on the first day of illness, the BBC reported. The change would replace the current three-day threshold and prompt employers with operations in Germany to revisit sick leave procedures.
The reform would abolish COVID‑era phone‑based sick notes and require employees to obtain a doctor’s certificate from the first day of illness. Under current rules, workers only need a medical certificate if they are unfit for work for more than three days, although employers can already require one earlier.
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Merz: Sick days are ‘too high’
“The number of sick days in Germany is too high,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, arguing the country “can no longer afford” the competitive disadvantage of long absences from work. It’s reported that he said that Germany was “returning to the arrangements we had before the coronavirus pandemic,” while stressing that “it is up to individual businesses to agree on other arrangements as well.”
According to the BBC, Jens Spahn, leader of the CDU’s parliamentary group, said that Germany’s rate of sick leave was among the steepest in the EU, with approximately “18 [sick] days per year per employee.”
Medical groups have objected to the change. The KBV, the national association representing statutory health insurance physicians, said in a statement reported by the BBC that the plan “bordered on madness,” as it would send thousands of people to doctors’ offices merely to obtain paperwork.
The plan is drawing friction even within the governing coalition. Labour Minister Bärbel Bas, whose center-left SPD governs alongside Merz’s conservatives, said she would review whether the first-day requirement “has any effect at all, or whether it is more likely to cause difficulties,” according to the BBC.
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Impact on employers
Multinational employers with German workforces should track how the final rules are implemented, as any shift from the three‑day certificate threshold will require updates to absence policies and HRIS workflows.
Merz’s comments also hint at scope for company‑ or sector‑level arrangements within the law—for example, via works councils or collective agreements—so local labor‑relations structures will matter in how these rules play out on the ground.
The BBC reported that the changes are part of broader tax, labor and pension reforms aimed at reviving Germany’s economy, and the package still needs to go through the legislative process, so details and timelines may change.
