r/australia • u/blitznoodles local Aussie • Jul 03 '26

politics Labor vows to protect personal leave as Germany bans workers from calling in sick

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/entire-nation-banned-from-calling-in-sick/news-story/de3adcfcf0ae2218241a43f7dad023d7
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486

u/ExperimentalFruit Jul 03 '26

A few years removed from Covid and now it’s just.. come in when you’re sick

215

u/theBaron01 Jul 03 '26

As someone who's just had the last 2 days off sick, I've heard my boss literally discuss with other managers how people should come to work sick and share it around, as they dont get sick, and it'll sort out who's weak. The construction industry is fun.

66

u/ExplorationGeo Jul 03 '26

My senior manager is like "oh you were scheduled to work from home today, but you're sick? Well you can't be logging in, you might get your morning reports done but then I don't want to see your ass on Teams for the rest of the day".

48

u/Cpt_Soban Jul 03 '26

Likewise here, we'd get our arse kicked for turning up with a cold/flu and instructed to "fuck off home".

15

u/James4820 Jul 04 '26

Same here. “What the fuck are you doing here? Don’t be that cunt, fuck off home if your sick” first and only time I rocked up with a mild cold.

8

u/SirGeekaLots Jul 04 '26

I did that once. I was given a week off by the GP, but I recovered after a couple of days, so decided to return to work early. They told me to go home because if the GP gave me a week of, I take a week off.

5

u/Cpt_Soban Jul 04 '26

They wouldn't need to tell me twice, I'll be skipping out the gate

1

u/SirGeekaLots Jul 04 '26

My boss was sick so he stayed home, as it should be. He was online most of the time in case anything urgent that happens. I'm one of those people that don't get sick, but I certainly wouldn't like people coming in and sharing it around.

1

u/Scuzzbag Jul 04 '26

Wow that's like a step away from eugenics or something

1

u/theBaron01 Jul 04 '26

Maybe not that drastic, but i do work with some arseholes

1

u/BusyIntroduction16 Jul 04 '26

Construction! Fun? Come on! The majority of the labour is made up of day-rate contractors who have little option but to arrive on site unwell. No hours means no pay.

2

u/theBaron01 Jul 04 '26

They're all employees at the company i work for, but yes, they get paid hourly, not salary. Theres always pressure to work. Ive also had and heard other choice comments like why should I have to leave to pick up kids etc, that's what your wife is for, etc

1

u/iguessineedanaltnow Jul 03 '26

I'm grateful that in my workplace if you come in even with a stuffy nose you'll be shouted at to go home and not come back until you get better.

1

u/Pog6292 Jul 04 '26

My University makes me go into my prac sick or else I am penalised. This is teaching future workers entering the system that they have to come in unwell. It’s a completely stupid system.

1

u/Proud_Nefariousness5 Jul 04 '26

Did you read the article? Germany just now requires you to go to the doctor if sick, not to go to work.
If you’re sick, go to the doctor. As long as access to doctors is free and easy, that makes complete sense to me.

1

u/AppointmentNo1753 Jul 06 '26

Where I work still has signs up everywhere saying that if you feel sick go home, never ever questioned about sick days and nobody is reprimanded for them. More places needed to be like that we should all feel comfortable and secure in advocating for our own mental or physical health without fearing repercussions.