Unions and medics condemn Germany’s plan to axe sick notes given over phone

Opponents say proposal, designed to tackle employee skiving, would fill up doctors’ waiting rooms unnecessarily

A German proposal to end the right to get short-term sick leave from a doctor over the telephone as a means of cracking down on skiving has met with an outcry from labour groups and the medical profession.

Germans enjoy some of the most generous employee illness policies in Europe, a fact the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says is undermining efforts to kickstart the EU’s biggest economy, whose growth has largely stalled since 2022.