Overview
- At a campaign event in Bad Rappenau, Chancellor Friedrich Merz cited roughly 14.5 sick days per worker and said he will discuss curbing telephone sick notes with the SPD.
- The Federal Statistical Office reports an average of 14.8 sick days in 2024 and links much of the rise since 2021 to the electronic sick-note system that captures absences more completely.
- AOK and other studies report no evidence of systematic abuse of telephone attestations, and doctors warn abolishing the option would clog already busy practices without reducing illness.
- CSU figures back tougher rules such as ending phone sick notes and considering waiting days, and they push faster shifts to weekly work-time limits, while the SPD warns of health and worker-protection red lines.
- Karl Lauterbach calls for prevention measures like better screening and tobacco control, Greens’ Franziska Brantner urges improved childcare and staffing, and no policy change has been decided.