‘Treated like shirkers’: German unions cry foul over Merz’s sick-note crackdown

Opponents say proposal to end sick notes issued over phone would fill up doctors’ waiting rooms unnecessarilyA 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 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. Continue reading...