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.
Workers in Germany used to be able to take up to three sick days without seeing a doctor and could call a doctor for a one-week sick leave letter without an in-person appointment.
Under the new reforms, both options are now banned.
In a speech, Merz flagged “exorbitant levels of sick leave in companies following the pandemic” and said: “We are…
This system is in place in France and is extremely stupid and wasteful.
This is going to kill people since waiting times increasing for doctors aren’t just some benign inconvenience. And contagious people will have an incentive to go to work as well, which is what happens in France and worsens epidemics, which actually costs way more than the mythical lazy person who calls in sick to play video games all day.
Are Germans going to fight back?