The Ministry of Health wants to review the regulations regarding telephone sick notifications. In doing so, she is taking up an initiative by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Minister of Health Nina Warken (CDU) announced on Monday evening in a conversation with Daily Mirror stated that the aim was to rule out misuse of sick notes. Merz sees it similarly. On average, employees in Germany get 14.5 sick days, said Merz at an election campaign event in Baden-Württemberg at the weekend.
Look at the statistics
In fact, sick leave is at a record level. According to data from the health insurance company DAK, Absenteeism increased by 40 percent from 2021 to 2022. Accordingly, sickness reports have been at this level since 2022. But the DAK sees a central reason for this: since 2022, medical practices have automatically sent sick notes to employers via the health insurance companies. Previously, employees had to submit the sick note themselves, which they regularly did not do. According to the DAK, this alone has increased the number of sick reports by 60 percent, depending on the illness.
The health insurance company primarily cites respiratory diseases as the cause of sick leave. This is also likely to be a post-corona effect. Since the end of precautionary measures such as wearing masks and keeping your distance, there has been a general increase in respiratory diseases. Especially since a social consensus seems to have been established: people don’t sit down with their colleagues while sniffling and sneezing and are more likely to call in sick. What is noteworthy in the analysis of sick notes from 2025 is an increase in mental illnesses as a reason for days lost, while respiratory diseases and musculoskeletal diseases remained at the previous year’s level.
According to the DAK, the regular evaluations of sick notes also showed signs of a culture of mistrust. Although it is not necessary for most companies, many employees take sick leave from day one. Probably “to avoid being suspected of being absent from work without a valid reason,” said DAK CEO Andreas Storm last year. Such distrust is a sign of low esteem, hinders performance and is therefore a health risk, says Storm.
Dispute between doctors
The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, nevertheless supported Merz. He also sees possible abuse when taking sick leave over the telephone. Opposition came from the General Practitioners Association, which “stocksauer” pointed to Gassen. No more telephone sick notes would put a strain on practices. Gassen no longer represents the interests of doctors. Telephone sick notes are a “successful model” and one of the few successful measures to reduce bureaucracy. Gassen initially did not want to comment on the allegations when asked.
The German Federation of Trade Unions also criticized Merz and Warken’s demands. DGB chairman Yasmin Fahimi described it as “highly indecent the extent to which employees who have reported sick are placed under general suspicion”. For fear of losing their jobs, many people would go to work sick instead of taking sick leave.
A dig into the liberal mothballs
Christos Pantazis, SPD
Christos Pantazis, the health policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, also criticized Merz’s move. This is “a grab into the neoliberal mothballs”. Health policy should not suggest that illness is a question of poor work ethic, said the doctor. Regarding Warken’s suggestion to check telephone sick notes, Pantazis told the taz: “An objective evaluation is legitimate – it is not alarmism or quick shots.”
The Left’s health policy spokesman, Ates Gürpinar, suspects that infections will increase if employees cannot call in sick by phone.
Janosch Dahmen, health policy spokesman for the Greens, also described Merz and Warken’s proposal as “the opposite of relief”. Instead, Dahmen called for an improvement in care.
DAK boss Storm calls for this in view of the persistently high number of illnesses a peakin which representatives of health insurance companies, unions, employers and doctors jointly research the causes. As a measure, he put up for discussion partial sick leave for certain diagnoses – so that employees are no longer completely absent.