Krankmeldung: Wie sich Arbeitgeber gegen Blaumacher wehren können

On January 9, 2025, the German news outlet reported on the issue of false sick leave in the country. Despite a slight reduction in recent years, the total number of workdays missed by employees remains high, according to the data from the Techniker Krankenkasse. German workers reported an average of 18.6 sick days between January and November 2025, compared to only 13 days in the entire year of 2021.

However, it is unclear how many of these cases are genuine and how many are due to employees "playing sick" by pretending to be ill. According to a survey conducted by the opinion research institute Yougov last year, over one in four people have falsified their sick leave at least once. A recent study by the health insurance company Pronova BKK found that 60% of employees have claimed to be ill when they were actually fit to work, with seven percent doing so frequently.

Around half of the respondents admitted to doing so "sometimes" or "rarely." When an employee repeatedly calls in sick despite being able to work, the employer cannot simply accept it. Two labor law attorneys explain the legal options available to companies to deal with such "sick leave exaggerators."