Down with a cold and a fever? In Germany you can often still get a sick note without leaving the house: one phone call to your practice is enough. The government wants to end that. Until it does, the current rules apply, and it pays to know them as the cold season gets going.
How the phone sick note works today
Since 7 December 2023, practices may certify incapacity for work by phone. Under the directive of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the patient must already be known to the practice, must not have severe symptoms, and a video consultation must not be possible. The first certificate covers at most five calendar days; a follow-up usually requires an in-person visit. There is no right to a phone certificate – the practice decides.
Video consultations go further: up to seven days for patients the doctor already knows, up to three for new ones. If you have no regular GP (Hausarzt) in Germany yet, a phone request will usually fail; a video appointment or a visit is the way in.
Towards your employer the basic rule is unchanged: if illness lasts more than three calendar days, a doctor’s certificate is due by the next working day. Employers may ask for it earlier, and some contracts say so explicitly.
What the coalition has decided – and what it has not
On 1 July 2026 the coalition committee of the CDU/CSU and SPD agreed to scrap phone sick notes and require a certificate from the first day of illness. Chancellor Friedrich Merz justified this by the sharp rise in sick leave since Covid: “We will not accept the exorbitant sick-leave rates that have emerged in companies since Corona.” The government confirmed the plans on 30 October. A draft bill is being prepared; deputy government spokesman Sebastian Hille told reporters, as reported by Stuttgarter Zeitung, he was optimistic about a decision by year-end. Entry into force on 1 January 2027 is conceivable but unconfirmed. None of it is law yet.
Two instruments are involved: the duty to present a certificate sits in the Continued Remuneration Act (Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz), while phone certification rests on a G-BA directive, which lawmakers could instruct the G-BA by law to amend. Press reports suggest the first-day rule could be a framework that collective or works agreements may deviate from. Tougher penalties for false certificates and voluntary partial sick notes (25, 50 or 75 per cent of working time) are also under discussion.
Who objects, and why
The German Medical Association called the plan an affront that puts doctors under general suspicion. In the Bundestag on 10 July, Green politician Ricarda Lang asked: “What the hell is this supposed to be?” Some in the SPD have questions too, while CDU health spokeswoman Simone Borchardt pointed to “potential for abuse” and noted that phone certificates began as a Covid exception. Practices fear more paperwork and crowded waiting rooms in the middle of infection season.
Our assessment: ending phone sick notes is stated coalition policy, but the timetable is open – a start in early 2027 is plausible, a later one equally so. If you have children or work shifts, it is sensible to find a practice you can reach in person or by video now, and to check from which day your contract requires a certificate.
Sources: G-BA, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Apotheke Adhoc (dpa), Deutsches Ärzteblatt
