Friedrich Merz wants to ban the practice, allowed since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which allows Germans to obtain a five-day medical certificate with full salary, simply by calling a doctor’s office.
The chancellor’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), voted unanimously in favor of ending this practice at a party conference, with the Government leader stating that absenteeism, which is growing in the country, is damaging the economy.
If the CDU’s proposal is approved, German workers will have to go to a doctor’s office before being considered unfit for work.
Germans take, on average, 15 sick days a year. In the CDU’s view, workers are more likely to make the decision to miss work due to illness if it is easy to obtain a certificate.
Germany has one of the most generous social welfare systems in the world, allowing up to 41 days of paid leave from employers before insurers start paying.
In contrast, the German Institute of Economics estimated that sick leave costs German employers 82 billion euros per year.
The CDU understands that the German economy cannot bear the current costs of the casualties, given that economic growth has been stagnant since 2017 and GDP grew by just 0.3% in 2025, according to recent data.
“We all need to achieve a higher level of economic production together than what we are currently achieving,” said the chancellor, who questioned whether so many sick days were really necessary.
However, the intention of Merz’s party could come up against the tense and fragmented government coalition, as the other parties that make up it disagree with the measure.
Christos Pantazis, health spokesman for the CDU’s social democratic partners, stressed that issuing medical certificates by telephone alleviates the burden on general practitioners’ offices and protects patients from unnecessary risks of infection. Yasmin Fahimi, leader of the German Confederation of Trade Unions, considered it “highly indecent to place employees who called in sick under general suspicion, as if they were negligent and lazy”.
Healthcare leaders are also divided on the issue. The president of a medical association agreed that the system “encourages abuse”, while another spoke of “employers’ delusion”.
The president of the insurance company Allianz recently warned that Germany runs the risk of returning to being the “sick country in Europe”. “When absenteeism in Germany is twice as high as in other European countries, this has consequences for business”, argued, in turn, the president of Mercedes-Benz, Ola Kallenius.
Employers have even turned to private detectives to help expose people who may be taking advantage of Germany’s liberal sick leave policies.
We are increasingly being contacted by employers who suspect an employee is missing work repeatedly or for long periods of time, calling in sick, while simultaneously working for competitors or pursuing private projects,” Paul Katz, a private investigator, told the station. Lord.
The number of sick days for mental health reasons is highlighted as one of the main factors driving high rates of absenteeism, as well as the aging of the German workforce, behavioral changes since the pandemic and labor shortages.
In Portugal, according to the most recent data, from May 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025, 1,266,354 Illness Declarations were issued. Last year alone, almost 540 thousand, 77 thousand more than in 2024. The measure can only be requested twice a year, and for a maximum of three unpaid days.
Leave a Reply