{
  "id": 553043,
  "title": "Sick leave notification: How employers can defend against slackers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/11/krankmeldung-wie-sich-arbeitgeber-gegen-blaumacher-wehren-konnen",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-11T09:55:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/karriere/krankmeldung-das-koennen-firmen-rechtlich-gegen-blaumacher-unternehmen/100180160.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "The sickness rate in Germany has recently decreased slightly. However, according to data from Techniker Krankenkasse, the total number of absences due to illness among employees remains high.\n\nBetween January and November 2025, German employees reported an average of around 18.6 days of illness. In the entire year of 2021, German employees were absent due to illness for around 13 days.\n\nBut how many of these are actually sick and how many are \"playing truant\" - i.e., only pretending to be sick?\n\nNo one knows exactly, but there are indications:\n\nAccording to a survey by the opinion research institute Yougov from last year, more than every fourth person has already been absent from work with false claims.\n\nA current study by the health insurance company Pronova BKK found that 60% of employees have already reported being sick, although they actually felt fit enough for work.\n\nSeven percent do this \"frequently\".\n\nFor around half of those surveyed, this occurs \"sometimes\" or \"rarely\".\n\nIf an employee repeatedly reports being sick, although they are actually capable of working, the employer does not have to accept this.\n\nTwo specialist lawyers for labor law explain which legal options companies have to take action against such \"truant illness\".\n\nNotification of illness:\n\nThese are the duties of employees\n\nIf an employee is sick, they must inform their employer immediately that they are unable to work and also how long their inability to work is likely to last.\n\n\"The employee can use the phone, email, SMS, WhatsApp or other messenger services for this,\" says Markus Bohnau, a specialist lawyer for labor law at the Kliemt firm.\n\nA medical certificate of incapacity to work (AU) must currently only be submitted if it lasts longer than three days.\n\nHowever, the Federal government plans to tighten this regulation so that a medical certificate of incapacity to work could be required from the first day.\n\nHowever, this has not yet been legally resolved.\n\nNevertheless, the employer can already request an AU before the three days have passed, says Nathalie Oberthür, a Cologne-based lawyer.\n\nSince 2023, this has been sent directly by the health insurance company to the employer as soon as the doctor has issued it.\n\nIf an employee is certified as sick, they must also behave in such a way that it does not impair their recovery, according to the expert.\n\nWhat this means in practice varies from case to case.\n\nAccording to IG Metall, if you have a broken arm, you can go to the cinema or a restaurant.\n\nOn the other hand, if you have influenza or a gastrointestinal infection, you should stay at home.\n\nNo AU available?\n\nThis is how the employer can react\n\nIf an employee is sick, they continue to receive their full salary from the company for six weeks.\n\nHowever, if they cannot provide an AU and cannot prove their inability to work in any other way, the employer has the right to refuse payment, according to labor law expert Bohnau.\n\nSome companies also pay the salary for longer.\n\nIn addition, a company can also impose sanctions if an employee cannot provide evidence of their inability to work with a medical certificate - for example, a warning or even termination.\n\nSuspicious illness notification:\n\nWhen can an employer question an AU?\n\n\"The employer can question a medical certificate if there are justified doubts about its correctness,\" says labor law expert Bohnau.\n\nThese are present in the following cases, among others:\n\nThe employee announced their inability to work in advance - for example, because their vacation request was rejected or there was a dispute with the boss.\n\nThe employee consistently has themselves certified sick shortly before or after vacation, weekends or public holidays.\n\nThe employer catches the employee behaving in a way that is detrimental to their recovery - for example, because they go to a party despite having influenza.\n\nThe employee resigns and has themselves certified sick for the rest of the contract term.\n\nSuspicion of playing truant:\n\nWhat can companies do?\n\nIf an employee plays truant, this can have far-reaching consequences and even lead to extraordinary termination, according to labor law expert Nathalie Oberthür.\n\nHowever, the catch for companies is that it must be proven that an employee reported being unable to work, although they were not actually unable to work.\n\nThis is particularly difficult if a medical certificate is available.\n\nThe doctor who issued the AU will usually not admit to having made a mistake during the patient's examination.\n\nOne option is to involve the Medical Service of the statutory health insurance companies, which can check the correctness of the certificate and order an examination of the employee.\n\nIf the employee does not appear for this examination, this can help to undermine the probative value of the medical certificate, according to Oberthür.\n\nHowever, the health insurance company can also reject the expert opinion if the cause of the AU is clearly evident from the medical records, says Oberthür.\n\nThis means that if the health insurance company concludes after reading the diagnosis by the doctor who issued the certificate that everything is in order, they do not have to create an expert opinion.\n\nMedical service checks the accuracy of the AU\n\nAnother problem:\n\nIt can take several days or even weeks for an employee to be assessed by the Medical Service of the health insurance company.\n\nThen it is often difficult to verify whether the employee was actually sick.\n\nAnother option is to look for evidence yourself.\n\nIn some cases, employers also consider hiring a detective agency to uncover a possibly feigned illness.\n\nHowever, caution is required here, according to Bohnau.\n\nOn the one hand, this may violate the employee's right to privacy.\n\nIn addition, the Federal Data Protection Act and the Works Constitution Act must be observed.\n\nA permissible measure could be, for example, to have the employee observed by a private detective during their leisure time.\n\nHowever, this should be done taking into account the employee's personality rights.\n\nIf an employer takes action against an employee who has played truant, they must also consider the Works Constitution Act.\n\nIf there is a works council, it must be involved.\n\nThe works council has a right of co-determination in personnel matters, including the termination of employment contracts.\n\nIn individual cases, it may also be advisable to seek advice from a specialist lawyer for labor law.",
  "summary": "From the Handelsblatt archive: An employee always calls in sick on bridge days and Mondays? These are the legal options companies have if they suspect someone is pulling a fast one.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}