We used to have a sick leave policy where you could take a half day sick leave or up to two days sick leave without a doctor's note. This is being changed so every half day or full day of sick leave needs a doctor's note. If there is no note, the leave would be considered as being out of office without permission and can cause suspension. This will come into effect from August or September.
SAP lobbied the current government to pass this resolution. How is the sick leave policy in your country?
@OP The law has not been passed yet and it is unlikely that it will be in the next 2 months. Even so, there are quite a bit of resistance inside the SPD meaning that they will resist the change or offer changes to the proposed legislation. Also, you only need a note currently on day 4
This is just a known manoeuvre to put employees on the defensive by stating, with no proof, that employees are abusing the system by taking sick leave when they're not really sick.
They know that all employees will produce the doctor justification.
But the rule should be :
If you don't trust your employees then you should fire them instead of creating this insecure work environment.
@OP Germans should go to work sick and sneeze and sn-t on other employees to share their illness and educate their people in charge on risk pooling.
@bc SAP, Volkswagen and several German companies have been lobbying to make the laws more relaxed so they can hire more Europeans. If you look at the local newspapers in the Rhein Neckar District, you'll see news around that. Christian Klein has also publicly asked Merz to relax laws to make Germany a better country for AI investments. Won't be surprised if he wants to invest in data centers here. Lobbying isn't always about money. Sometimes it is a threat saying that they'll lay off 10000 German employees and blame the government if Merz doesn't do what CK wants.
@bc the choice stays with the employer. And knowing our area executives and group executives, they won’t miss a chance to inflict pain on employees and make the culture worse. It will greatly feed manager egos and them a sense of power. And with the fear of this being tied to performance management, many employees will just push through and not take any leave. I am expecting doctor’s notes to be a norm for a year or two till they realize that their plan backfired. If I have to see a doctor every time I need a day of sick leave, I’m taking the entire week off to recover. But I know that most colleagues will just work even when they’re sick.
SAP did not lobby for this.
Doctors around WDF / ROT are somewhat wary of SAP because its employees have an above-average proportion of stress-related illnesses. If we have to see a doctor instead of staying at home for a day or two, (s)he will often hand out a sick note for a full week.
SAP does not benefit from this at all. I expect the old procedure will stay in place, as employers can put their own rules in place according to the new law.
I worked in the US and we basically just emailed our team and our manager to let them know we wouldn't be available for the day.
Germany needs to learn from France.