German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced sweeping tax, pension and labour reforms today, including that workers will now be required to get a medical certificate saying they’re too unwell to work from the first day of sick leave.
In Italy, if I get sick, I call my doctor that depending on how sick I am, will either send me an email certificate (that it’s already logged in the national social security system at the moment they make it) or give me an appointment if I need to be checked. Normally, within the day, I send my employer that email and it’s all done.
Essentially in the first few days you called just in to work and told them you are sick. No doctor ‘proof’ required. They had to trust you that you are. From the third day onwards you needed proof. So you had to go to the doctor and get it. Then they added during corona that you can call the doctor to get proof for smaller stuff like a common cold. Now they want to remove that all and sent anyone for anything to the doctor.
Plus the doctors / GP already have enough crap to do and are super full we constantly hear in the news that we need more doctors who work the villages blah blah blah. So now the few who do will haven even more work. Also also they claim the old system had been abused by the worker to skip work. Instead of realising that due to corona a lot of people actually still stay home when they are sick and don’t drag that shit to work.
I’m not sure I’m following.
In Italy, if I get sick, I call my doctor that depending on how sick I am, will either send me an email certificate (that it’s already logged in the national social security system at the moment they make it) or give me an appointment if I need to be checked. Normally, within the day, I send my employer that email and it’s all done.
Was Germany doing differently?
Essentially in the first few days you called just in to work and told them you are sick. No doctor ‘proof’ required. They had to trust you that you are. From the third day onwards you needed proof. So you had to go to the doctor and get it. Then they added during corona that you can call the doctor to get proof for smaller stuff like a common cold. Now they want to remove that all and sent anyone for anything to the doctor.
Plus the doctors / GP already have enough crap to do and are super full we constantly hear in the news that we need more doctors who work the villages blah blah blah. So now the few who do will haven even more work. Also also they claim the old system had been abused by the worker to skip work. Instead of realising that due to corona a lot of people actually still stay home when they are sick and don’t drag that shit to work.
In the US I just call or email my boss.
No one wants a sick person to come in and spread it around.
I’ve never once needed a note from a doc, even when I’ve been out for an extended period for a surgery.