Friedrich Merz reiterates criticism of the extent of sick go away – together with within the public sector | EUROtoday

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reiterated his criticism of the excessive stage of illness in Germany. The common 14.5 sick days that he talked about on the weekend don’t even embody short-term illness stories of 1 or two days, he mentioned after a gathering of the CDU federal government board. “If they were included, the number would be significantly higher. And this means that the average sickness rate in companies in Germany is too high.”

This additionally applies to the general public service, emphasised the CDU chairman. We are at the moment on the lookout for the causes of this growth and options. “One of the reasons is certainly the ease of sick leave through telephone sick notes.” Doctors additionally mentioned they could not decide whether or not somebody was really incapacitated with out seeing the affected person. Incidentally, he acquired lots of approval for his statements from the weekend.

Criticism of sick go away by phone

Merz had defined at a marketing campaign occasion in Bad Rappenau close to Heilbronn that workers in Germany had a mean of 14.5 sick days. “That’s almost three weeks in which people in Germany don’t work for reasons of illness. Is that really right? Is that really necessary?”

We want to speak about how we are able to create incentives for folks to do their jobs, mentioned Merz. He gave the phone sick observe for instance. This has been in impact since 2021 and the Union is pushing for it to be abolished. “Correctly justified during the Corona period, still today?” requested the Chancellor.

He additionally mentioned: “At the end of the day, we must all achieve greater economic performance in this Federal Republic of Germany than we are currently achieving.”

Andreas Gassen, head of the statutory medical insurance affiliation, can be important of the certificates of incapacity for work after phone contact with the physician alone. The phone certificates of incapacity for work “naturally” invitations abuse, he informed the “Tagesspiegel”. “Nobody can reliably judge over the phone whether someone is really unable to work or not,” mentioned Gassen.

“Sickening working conditions”

The former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) spoke within the “Tagesspiegel” towards an finish to phone sick go away. An enchancment in illness charges could be achieved via “preventative medicine”. “We achieve this through early detection, for example of high blood pressure, through an increase in tobacco taxes and other preventative measures – and not by bullying the sick.”

Left federal managing director Janis Ehling additionally mentioned: “Anyone who complains about the high level of sickness should talk about overwork, a lack of staff and working conditions that make people sick, instead of accusing employees of a lack of work ethic.” Green Party chief Franziska Brantner mentioned that economically it was clear “that we have to work more”. What is required, nonetheless, are good normal circumstances, resembling dependable childcare.

According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office, workers in Germany had been on sick go away for a mean of 14.8 working days in 2024. This is a rise of three.6 sick days in comparison with 2021. According to the Federal Office, the rise is prone to be due, amongst different issues, to the introduction of the digital certificates of incapacity for work initially of 2022. This would file illness stories extra precisely.

An AOK examine from the start of 2025 sees respiratory illnesses as one of many foremost drivers of further days of absence. At the identical time, there are “no signs of systematic abuse” with regards to sick notes over the phone. Three out of 4 respondents thought it made sense as a result of it averted physician visits and call within the ready room.

Clause within the coalition settlement

Union and employer associations have been calling for an finish to phone sick go away for a very long time. However, the coalition settlement between the Union and the SPD doesn’t speak about abolition, however moderately about corrections: “We will change telephone sick leave so that misuse is ruled out in the future (for example exclusion of online sick leave through private online platforms).”