Krankmeldung: Wie sich Arbeitgeber gegen Blaumacher wehren können
Aus dem Handelsblatt-Archiv: Ein Mitarbeiter meldet sich immer an Brückentagen und montags krank? Diese rechtlichen Möglichkeiten haben Firmen bei Verdacht auf Blaumachen.
The latest data shows Germany's absenteeism rate has slightly decreased, but the total number of workdays lost due to illness remains high. In 2025, German employees reported an average of 18.6 sick days between January and November, compared to just 13 days per year in 2021. However, it's unclear how many of these absences are due to genuine illness and how many are from what's known as "blue balling" – pretending to be sick when one is actually fit to work.
According to a Yougov opinion research survey from last year, more than one in four people have admitted to having given false information at some point. A recent study by health insurance company Pronova BKK found that 60% of employees have faked illness at least once when they were actually physically capable of working. Seven percent do this "frequently", while around half do it "sometimes" or "rarely".
When an employee is absent repeatedly despite being capable of working, employers have legal options to deal with what's known as "stubborn absenteeism".
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
