EU Germany ends Phone Sick Notes from Day 1 "to cut absences" - German man, are you sick? Do you wanna call off work? Well TOO BAD, get your ass up and get a fucking certificate, LOSER!

Germany's government agreed to scrap phone-based sick notes for short illnesses, mandating in-person or video doctor's certificates from the first day of absence—up from day four. This follows seven hours of negotiations between CDU, CSU, and SPD, amid 2023 averages of 15.1 sick days per worker and 23.3 days reported in 2025 by some insurers. Business groups applaud the move to boost productivity, while doctors and unions fear clinic overloads and a culture of mistrust. The reform fits a larger package with tax relief and labor changes, heading to parliament without a set start date.

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Germany's Chancellor Merz: "We can no longer accept the extraordinarily high levels of sick leave in our companies. We are abolishing sick leave by telephone and introducing the requirement to submit a medical certificate from the very first day of illness. We know this is a tough decision. But we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by prolonged absences from work."

https://x.com/clashreport/status/2072603035277139974

Talk about pulling the whip on heckin proletariat... jeez!

edit: removed the static image and put a video archive of the press conference instead.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

If you need to take 15 days off work every single year you’re either deathly ill or a slacker.

You try being a good german eating at immigrant restaurants regularly and not be debilitated by the shits at least once a month. Its a cultural accommodation

 

[The ATF Disliked That]

Sure but at least in tech usa, everyone now gives unlimited pto. Which means no debt on the corporate books and unless you are in a very blue state with workers rights demanding any minimums, you effectively get owed nothing. If your boss doesnt like you or the company culture is "work hard never play unpess you are c suite" you just dont get vacation.

Unlimited works worse than the old unlimited phone or internet plans of the 90s.

The german system beats that sadly by a long mile

True, but luckily where I work we have accrued and an amount on our paychecks that we're entitled to use, plus the carry-over.

 

[Rei is Shit.]

Not really. 38 to 40 hours are the standard for full-time employees. France has a shorter 35-hour standard.

Forget how many hours per week is normal and do (total hours worked)/52

Everything I've seen shows that Germany is one of the lowest in the developed world. Its something politicians, think thanks, economists, ect cite as a problem.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-work-week-by-country

 

[Avroboros]

Forget how many hours per week is normal and do (total hours worked)/52

Everything I've seen shows that Germany is one of the lowest in the developed world. Its something politicians, think thanks, economists, ect cite as a problem.
Ver archivo adjunto 9225988

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-work-week-by-country

Ver archivo adjunto 9225989Ver archivo adjunto 9225990

Even if that was true, I don't think ending Sick Notes is a good idea to "increase work hours" homie. The fact that there exists countries with them (with good healthcare systems too) that also have high work hours on average show that there's a deeper problem to the issue, something fundamentally wrong with German society that can't be fixed with a little magic wand as you go "Poof! No more phone calls! Now get that ass up and go see the doctor faggot!".

 

[CharlesBarkley]

Isn't the German people (the non-brown ones) considered hyper autistic and think endlessly driving a forklift between two points is so exciting, that once they go home, they also play forklift simulator all day? Kind of surprised they would call in sick to work.

You try being a good german eating at immigrant restaurants regularly and not be debilitated by the shits at least once a month. Its a cultural accommodation

Imagine not getting paid to shit at the office instead of home. That's just poor planning.

 

[Lady Adjani]

Fifteen days makes sense if you can carry it over and you only use it for its intended purpose. When Bob who's been in accounting 20 years gets cancer, you want him to take as much time as he needs. But people who use their sick leave as soon as they get it because they need a "mental health day," they can get cancer and die.

I'm assuming this is an American thing, because the average Europistan country doesn't have a fixed amount of "sick days". When you're sick you call into work to let them know you won't be coming in and then call your personal physician to put you on sick leave. If it's a fever, cold, flu etc. they usually tell you to rest for a week and call them back on the last day, if you're still claiming to be sick after the initial period they'll call you in for a check up.

Even if that was true, I don't think ending Sick Notes is a good idea to "increase work hours" homie. The fact that there exists countries with them (with good healthcare systems too) that also have high work hours on average show that there's a deeper problem to the issue, something fundamentally wrong with German society that can't be fixed with a little magic wand as you go "Poof! No more phone calls! Now get that ass up and go see the doctor faggot!".

The system they're trying to implement is moronic as is forces you to get a check up on the very same day that you're claiming to be sick. Got a monster headache and a fever? fuck you, get in the car and drive for 30 minutes so your doctor can tell you to stay at home for the rest of the week.

But you need to understand that this is only happening because the average worker abuses and exploits the system in order to essentially get extra time off work.

 

[Curry Teafag]

Forget how many hours per week is normal and do (total hours worked)/52

Everything I've seen shows that Germany is one of the lowest in the developed world. Its something politicians, think thanks, economists, ect cite as a problem.
Ver archivo adjunto 9225988

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-work-week-by-country

Ver archivo adjunto 9225989Ver archivo adjunto 9225990

Once again retarded Amerifags not being able to distinguish between an average and a peak.

I clearly wrote full-time employees. We do have a lot of part-time employees as well.

Also, you need to take labour productivity into account. It is very low for Colombia, for example, so they need to work more hours to get the same amount of work done. The countries with low working hours are also among those with the highest labour productivity. Ireland is somewhat different because their high GDP comes mostly from all the tech companies that pay their taxes there. It used to be a developing country not that long ago, but then they managed to lure in Big Tech with low taxes.

Labour productivity in 2023, defined as GDP per hour worked in current prices and current PPPs:

 

[Unfiltered Sunshine]

Germans call in sick? Must be a cold day in hell.

 

[Avroboros]

But you need to understand that this only happens because the average worker abuses and exploits the system in order to essentially get extra time off work.

Anyone can agree that any system is exploitable, exploits inherently happen no matter how rigid or specific a system might be, because this is a materialistic and manmade concept in the first place (people make things, things are prone to break and not work at times because people aren't perfect).. Let me be a little nerd for a moment and use some programmer lingo: this is pretty analogous to how software works, the system is a program, politicians or whoever's in charge are developers, and whatever they introduce might cause bugs and/or completely break things.

The problem is that it's not as straightforward as thinking that Sick Notes are the cause of these low workhours (people are definitely exploiting it, but to say the average German is doing this feels like a massive exaggeration, there might be other causes affecting German society that's decreasing productivity), and yet, in spite of all the "What-ifs" and "Maybes", the German Government suddenly turns around and pins the entire blame on this thing that every developed nation has.. don't you think this is a little strange? Your country is getting old, people are less motivated, there's a decrease in productivity.. and you immediately put the blame on a fundamental right like this? ("Yes let's force people out of their house when they're sick! This is all in the name of uh... 'productivity', yeah trust me bro, gotta pump those workhours amirite?")..

We clearly both agree that this is stupid and that people should be able to call from home, but the German Government isn't doing this out of their kind and sobbing heart because "Le Germans (whites that is) are now simply lazy and don't want to work anymore!!" (there's definitely more to it, I mean can you deadass believe it? Germans don't love work anymore? What kind of parallel universe is this? Have we reached Steins;Gate and we didn't notice?).

 

[Kharash]

Surprised this got as many negative reactions as it did.

Last time I was on sick leave was when I had pneumonia, 8 years ago. Meanwhile my coworkers called in sick every time they sneezed or were hungover.

If you need to take 15 days off work every single year you’re either deathly ill or a slacker.

It's called FREEDOM, bish.

 

[Dumbledore's Onlyfans]

...you callout when you're sunburnt or hungover? Seems like this is by design to stop so many sick days from self inflicted "illnesses" that clear up in a day or a few hours.

I've had a variety of jobs over my life, so I can tell you from experience that the simple answer is, you don't want anyone showing up for work who isn't fit to work. It slows everyone's production down.

You 100% don't want someone at work who is so hung over that they're puking into trash cans all day. You don't want your forklift driver or heavy equipment operator jumping off their machine to puke, or operating their equipment still drunk from the night before. People make mistakes sometimes. If the employee is valuable and doesn't make such mistakes very often, you look the other way as to the reason.

If they're such a drunk that they're hung over all the time, they need to be fired. But if they're a valuable employee who just had one too many at a birthday party or a wake, you let them quietly call in sick and come in fresh the next day.

When it comes to sunburn, I got sent home from work for sunburn once. I was so badly sunburned that I couldn't bend my legs, and honestly I wasn't getting much done because I was in so much pain from it. I did learn my lesson from it, and never fell asleep in the sun ever again. But for that one time, I really needed that day off, and there was no need for a doctors visit or for HR to get involved. Anybody with eyes could see what was wrong with me.

So yes, hangover or sunburn are a good reason to take a single day off with no doctor's note, provided that it's not a mistake that's made very often.

 

[JenkinsJinkies]

I've had a variety of jobs over my life, so I can tell you from experience that the simple answer is, you don't want anyone showing up for work who isn't fit to work. It slows everyone's production down.

You 100% don't want someone at work who is so hung over that they're puking into trash cans all day. You don't want your forklift driver or heavy equipment operator jumping off their machine to puke, or operating their equipment still drunk from the night before. People make mistakes sometimes. If the employee is valuable and doesn't make such mistakes very often, you look the other way as to the reason.

If they're such a drunk that they're hung over all the time, they need to be fired. But if they're a valuable employee who just had one too many at a birthday party or a wake, you let them quietly call in sick and come in fresh the next day.

When it comes to sunburn, I got sent home from work for sunburn once. I was so badly sunburned that I couldn't bend my legs, and honestly I wasn't getting much done because I was in so much pain from it. I did learn my lesson from it, and never fell asleep in the sun ever again. But for that one time, I really needed that day off, and there was no need for a doctors visit or for HR to get involved. Anybody with eyes could see what was wrong with me.

So yes, hangover or sunburn are a good reason to take a single day off with no doctor's note, provided that it's not a mistake that's made very often.

Do you people not have discretionary PTO/vacation? If you get too drunk and can't show up that sounds like a you problem and you should either eat a vacation day or go to the doctor if you're truly feeling that unwell

 

[Dumbledore's Onlyfans]

Do you people not have discretionary PTO/vacation? If you get too drunk and can't show up that sounds like a you problem and you should either eat a vacation day or go to the doctor if you're truly feeling that unwell

We do! We're just talking about Germany's insane new first-day doctor's note rule right now.

There are a whole lot of reasons that a worker may need a single day off without a doctor's visit. Personally, I don't need to know that my best bulldozer driver is taking a day off because he ate too many tacos at his daughter's Sweet 16 party and has the raging shits now. He just needs to tell me, "Boss, I'm bad sick today. I'll be in tomorrow." And he does not need to go to the doctor to get diagnosed with overeating in order to claim his sick time. But I guess it's different in Germany.

 

[Soyjak Enjoyer]

Germany's Chancellor Merz: "We can no longer accept the extraordinarily high levels of sick leave in our companies. We are abolishing sick leave by telephone and introducing the requirement to submit a medical certificate from the very first day of illness. We know this is a tough decision. But we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by prolonged absences from work."

Wait so I am interpreting this right? They're not lowering the minimum standard that a company can choose to use they're forcing it on everyone. So like if I own a restaurant and my employee calls in and says he's vomiting I'm not allowed to give him the day off unless he goes to the doctors and he is compelled to work today and I am compelled to allow him? That can't be real

 

[Avroboros]

Wait so I am interpreting this right? They're not lowering the minimum standard that a company can choose to use they're forcing it on everyone. So like if I own a restaurant and my employee calls in and says he's vomiting I'm not allowed to give him the day off unless he goes to the doctors and he is compelled to work today and I am compelled to allow him? That can't be real

Ayup, you get it. In that scenario you'd be obligated by law to force him to get a doctor's certificate to prove that he's sick, or else you can't dismiss him/pay him. So imagine forcing the poor fuck out of his house (or forcing him to get his ass online and book an online video call with whatever doctor's available) just to be able to rest at home in the first place. You have to love how politicians nowadays have zero clue on what the fuck they're doing.

 

[Sugriva]

Get back to work, German man. You need to be productive and fund the lives of your brown betters.

 

[Otterly]

Oh look, another article where everyone jumps in to prove that their pet political issue is the real reason something like this is happening.

Do any of them know that Germany has one of the shortest working weeks of any developed nation?

The issue with this is that it’s propaganda. I have a few people I work with who work in France and they’re technically not supposed to work more than 35 hours a week. They work 50, and so do all their colleagues working for similar international companies (for no extra pay.) if they are honest with their timesheets they will be told they’re not performing strongly enough and be punished and if they are not, the company will tell them that they’re not overworked,
Every time you see these ‘x euro country works four minute weeks and has all these protections’ it’s inevitably some government department or public sector. Everyone else is working like Americans work and being taxed to death and earning a third of what the Americans earn.
It’s propaganda