Sick Leave

You need to inform your employer at the start of the first day you are unable to work due to sickness at the latest. You do not have to disclose what illness you have. If you can estimate how long you will be ill, however, you should let your employer know. You can inform the employer by phone, SMS or email.

Your employer can request a sick note from the first day of sickness. When so, on the first day you miss work due to your illness, you must present the appropriate document from the doctor. However, in many workplaces, the employees only have to submit a sick note from the third day of illness. Ask your employers which rules and regulations apply to you.

Please note: Your sick note must be comprehensive, i.e. it must cover all the days you are missing due to the illness.

When you visit your doctor, you need to let him/her know you need a sick note. Based on the diagnosis, the doctor decides how many days you will not be able to work before you recover. The sick note itself consists of three parts:

• A page is intended for your health insurance. Your doctor’s office will directly send it to your insurance company.
• The second page is for your employer- and only shows the duration of your sick leave, but not the diagnosis, so that your employer cannot learn about the type of illness- and he/she has no right to ask you either. Currently, you must hand in or send this page over to your employer, but soon it will be done automatically and directly.
• The third page is for your own records.

If your employer does not believe that you are, in fact, sick or unable to work, they can inform your health insurance company. The health insurance company will then commission the medical service of the health insurance company (MDK) to carry out an examination.

It depends on the length of your sick leave:

• If you are on sick leave for less than six weeks, you will, in principle, continue to receive your salary.
• If you are on sick leave for more than six weeks and your employer no longer pays you a salary, you will receive sick pay ("Krankengeld") from your health insurer instead of your salary. The amount of sick pay you receive will be less than your wage.

It depends on the type of illness. If your doctor prescribes bed rest, you should stay at home. Otherwise, you can go out or travel if you wish so.

This is not clearly regulated, as there are two different legal texts on this subject. One of these laws (SGB V) states:

You can stay at home for up to 10 days a year to take care of your sick child. These ten days apply to each parent per child. Single parents can, accordingly, stay at home for 20 days per child. If you have more than two children, you can stay at home per parent for a maximum of 25 days to care for your sick children. However, this regulation only applies if:

• your child is younger than 12 years or needs special help because of a disability,
• you can present a medical certificate stating that your child needs care during his illness,
• and there is no other person in your household who can take care of your child.

The other law (BGB) does not specify any particular figures or further conditions. So if you have to stay at home to look after a child over 12, you may be able to refer to Section 616 of the German Civil Code (BGB).

Important: Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the flu epidemic, you can also obtain a sick leave note over the phone if you come down with a cold. Sick leaves may be for up to 7 days, but if you are ill for longer, the doctor can extend the sick note over the phone by an additional 7 days. This exception regulation applies until 31.03.2023.

You can also obtain a sick leave via WhatsApp. But this is only possible for certain illnesses: colds, back pain, migraines, cystitis, gastrointestinal flu, period pain and stress. And it costs money. You will then immediately receive the sick leave letter digitally via WhatsApp or two days later per post. This sick leave is valid for three days. However, you may only use this service twice a year. To find the companies which offer such a service, you can google “Krankschreibung online”.