German labor laws for sick days

Can anyone tell me whether or not an employer can demand that you go to the Dr. on the first day you are sick?

My experience so far has been that you go on the second day (normally) and that if you are out more than two days you have to have your Arbeitsunfähigkeitbescheinigung in by the third day.

Clue me in if you know the law please

My company demands a Doctors schein on the first day of sick leave. I've been told this isn't legal and have stubbornly never provided one myself but don't know whether it's because of the law or because as the only non-german I get to play dumb foreigner.

third day is when u have to provide the doctors note..legally that is..i think.

Doctors visit / sick note on the third day is the rule.
Demanding a sick note for a one day / 2 day cold is a stupid overburdening of the health system and increases the costs of the employers! Stupid plonkers.

is there an employment lawyer anywhere on this board?

3rd day is the official rule. However employers can mandate it on the 1st or 2nd day if you are a "Cronic Sick day taker", or if you get caught in the
night club by your boss when you called in sick that day

This site says that you have to provide something after 3 days, but it is generally at the employers' discretion to ask for it earlier, even if there is no special reason:

http://www.stepstone.de/tips/content/steps...rankundnun.html

Depends on what it says in your contract. In mine it says "Ein Atest muß spätestens am 3. Krankheitstag eingereicht werden".

Hi,
Wondering if someone is able to let me know what the German legislation regarding sick leave entitlements.

I became unwell very unexpectedly, had medical certificate for 2days from a GP here in Germany. After experiencing shocking treatment here with 3doctors & hospital emergency ward in the 2days, flew "home" and have had tests & treatment there. Now back here, but have no idea what the legislation is in comparison to the UK & Aust.

My Dr from home has provided all test results, medical cert for the 3weeks off work, and a fitess to return to work letter.

Is there a statuatory number a sick leave days an employee is entitled to, or is it probable I would have to take this as days off/holiday time or leave without pay?

Thankyou for any information/advice you can provide me with.

Topics merged by admin

Normally, There are Unlimited sick days. Esp. if you have the Doc. notes to back it up. Your company may have a local policy to prevent abuse of the system and may require other documents, after 2-3 Consecusitive Days. Contact your HR Dept. or Works Council.

According to ILO for Germany.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue...dial/ll/ger.htm

DarkKnight & SarahKT, thank you for the information you provided. It is sincerely appreciated.
Kind regards

@SarahKT

Thats for long term sickness.. AKA: Cancer treatment, etc.
After 6 consistant weeks of sickness your Employer will nolonger pay you your full wages, or at all. This is when your Health Insurance and other Govt. programs kick in to pay you a monthly sum, which will be nowhere near your norm. monthly salery but it's better than nothing. But if you call in sick
for 1-3 days 2-3 times a year (Cold/Flu/Hayfever/Other Short term sickness) these days are Unlimited, and can't be held against you. Now calling
in Sick Every Monday for a month or so, then showing-up on Tues. with no prob. may get you in hot water.

I was told by my HR that so long as a medical cert has been issued by a certified doctor, it still applies, well, at least for my company anyway. Perhaps it is also at the discretion of management.

I was actually referring to steeleke's case where she has the relevant medical cert and etc...and 3 continuous weeks should be considered as long-term sickness, especially since it was certified by a medical doctor.

However, no company in Germany will pay after 6 weeks of continued illness.

Actually, you may stay home for a total of up to 3 days per annual quarter without a doctors note. At least in my company.

@Darkknight

Depends on your health insurance (Krankentagegeld). It's possible to insure yourself privately up to the the level of your net income. You usually have to go to the doctor regularly to get signed off as still entitled.

On this same thread, I was out sick 2 days last week (Mon and Tues) and was given yellow 'sick note' form. So, what do I do with it? I gave one copy to my boss but do I send the other one to the insurance company? And then, what they do with it?

The 2nd copy goes to your Insurance company. They will usually cover any medication or time lost at work. But this is all depending on your Insurance company and coverage type.

The yellow form needs to be filled out by your doctor. Depending on your work contract, it may well be that you need to provide a doctors note from the first day of sickness. See article Gelber Schein ab dem 1. Krankheitstag zulässig

Darknight has it perfectly rights here folks.Only on the third day do you have to produce a 'Gelbe Schein' and after 6 weeks of illness your 'Krankenkasse' kicks in.however if the accident or illness was caused at work your employers insurance kicks in

unless, as Oli2000 pointed out, your contract or the general Tarif- or Mantelvertrag (eg general IG-Metall Tarifvertrag), stiplulates that you need to produce the Schein from the first day. I know more and more companies who are starting to ask for this - if it is in the contract and you don't do it, the company can take it out of your pay.

I've always given my sick note to my employer, but have generally 'forgotten' to mail the other note to the health insurance. Can't really see the point, as it's none of their business unless I'm going to be sick long-term; which hasn't happened yet - knock wood. Never had any problems with this.

When all said and done you can sign any contract over here and if there are any stipulations in it that are unlawfull or gainst an existing law then they do not count.We have the MantelTarifVertrag for the IG metal andit has ´been accepted up to now that we only have to produce the Gelbe Schein on the 3rd day.However the new owners have now found it out and we have to produce it staright away.We also have to inform our employer by telephone straight away when we are sick

Hi, does this apply only if the 6 weeks is continuous, one after the other? My company has asked me to go on sick leave for no fault of mine so I'd like to know if this becomes unfair to me that I should receive a lower salary payout from my health insurance, when it has nothing to do with my health insurance!

Entgeltfortzahlung im Krankheitsfall - Nachweispflicht

Dauert die Arbeitsunfähigkeit länger als drei Tage, muss der Arbeitnehmer spätestens am ersten darauf folgenden Arbeitstag seinem Arbeitgeber eine Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung zukommen lassen. Aus dieser muss sich das Bestehen einer Arbeitsunfähigkeit und deren voraussichtliche Dauer ergeben.

Der Arbeitgeber ist berechtigt, eine frühere Vorlage der Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung zu verlangen.

Kommt der Arbeitnehmer der ihm obliegenden Anzeige- und Nachweispflichten (§ 5 EntgFG) schuldhaft nicht nach, kann der Arbeitgeber die Vergütungsfortzahlung verweigern, bis der Nachweis erbracht ist (§ 7 EntgFG). ...

§ 5 Anzeige- und Nachweispflichten