In a stark departure from its reputation for employee-coddling, the German government is attacking the mass abuse of sick leave with strict new policies that would require a doctor's note obtained on the very first day an employee is sick, with no ability to simply take a sick day with a mere phone call. The reform package also targets retirement ages, tax rates,  regulations, welfare benefits and the ease of hiring and firing. It's expected to pass parliament by year's end. 

“The number of sick days is too high,” German chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters. “We are creating a set of tools that will enable those involved, both employees and companies, to correct this. We know this is a tough decision. But we can no longer afford the competitive disadvantage caused by prolonged absences from work.” Merz said the changes are needed to invigorate Germany's economy, which has faltered after the COVID pandemic and suffered from the West's interventions in the Ukraine war and Iran. 

Previously, employees in Germany didn't need a doctor's note until their third day of absence, and they could obtain the note via a phone call to a doctor. The rules also granted up to six weeks of leave per illness. A new bout of sickness started a new six-week clock. 

On top of enjoying six weeks of vacation time, the average German has been taking nearly three weeks of sick leave per year. The German sick-time pace is about double the US pace, and is also higher than the call-out frequency in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Italy. However, sick-leave abuse is even worse in France and most of the Nordic states. 

Predictably, German trade unions are up in arms. Frank Werneke, who leads the services-sector union Verdi, said Merz was "creating a culture of distrust of employees." (Seems like maybe the employees collectively cultivated that distrust by casually calling out sick.)  

Medical professionals are squawking too, warning the policy will be a hammer-blow to efficiency and doctor availability. The German Association of Family Physicians called the new rules "an absolute catastrophe," adding that "our practices would be flooded with patients who don’t need in-person care and would be better off in bed." 

The German reform package resulted from negotiations between Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union Party and the Left-wing Social Democrat Party that is part of the ruling coalition. The package also includes:

• A gradual increase of the retirement age from 65 to 67
• The introduction of a capital-markets fund for the investment of contributions to the state pension system
• Greater ease in hiring short-term workers and firing top-earners
• Welfare reform that incentivizes laid-off workers to get a new job as soon as possible 
• €10 billion in income tax relief for working-class and middle-income households, fueled by a tax hike on those earning more than €250,000 a year, along with reductions of assorted tax breaks
• Deregulation, including sweeping relief that drops most requirements for employers to feed statistics to government bureaucracies, and the easing of data privacy regulations for small firms
• Bakeries and pastry shops will have the freedom to stay open later on Sundays