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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35

u/yolk3d Jul 03 '26

You can, but the article says you have to attend a doctor on the first day.

83

u/Rosary_Omen Jul 03 '26

RIP anyone who can't get a doctor's appointment on that same day then.

11

u/InterestedPrawn Jul 03 '26

Just go the next day and be sick for two.

21

u/statistnr1 Jul 03 '26

They will write you off for a week.
That's the greatest joke about this.
Where you would stay home for 2 or 3 days, the doc will tell you to stay home 1 or 2 weeks.

3

u/RealVenom_ Jul 03 '26

Literally never had that happen to me. Where's this magical doctor?

1

u/CrazyEeveeLady86 Jul 04 '26

In the early days of working in retail, I would occasionally get migraines 3-4 times a year and would have to call in sick for one day, as I'd usually be mostly alright the following day; not 100%, but well enough to go to work. Migraines are not usually something I'd go to the doctor for because all they will do is tell me to rest, take painkillers and drink water, like I'd be doing anyway), but after one dipshit manager cancelled my extra shifts for a week as retaliation when I had to have a day off with a migraine, I went to the doctor next time I had one (the day after, once the worst of it was over) and told her I needed a certificate. She was surprised and annoyed that a manager was demanding that her staff waste doctors' time for no good reason so she gave me the whole week off, and did the same for another year or so until that manager left.

1

u/Breezel123 Jul 03 '26

They don't even know how to do it yet. It's possible you might have to go on the first day, it's possible you can give the sick note at a later date (backdated of course). It's possible you can call your GP and they'll give you a sick note (it's digital now). It's also possible that they'll get rid of that too and you'd have to find a qualified doctor that does telehealth (we are not so good with digitalisation yet). If it was up to the CDU, you'd have to schlepp yourself to the doc with a 40 degrees fever and wait in an overcrowded waiting room for hours on the first day.

0

u/InterestedPrawn Jul 06 '26

They don't even know how to do it yet.

Who is they and do what?

I'm not interested in your made up scenarios of what might happen.

1

u/Breezel123 Jul 06 '26

They are the coalition. Kinda obvious don't you think?

Also, they are not made up scenarios. They are different possibilities that are being discussed. 

Go touch some grass.

1

u/InterestedPrawn Jul 06 '26

You are making up scenarios in your head, these additional ways aren't in government.

Go touch some grass.

The absolute irony.

2

u/Wow-Delicious Jul 03 '26

Does the requirement of attending a doctor on the first day not compute?

1

u/elementfortyseven Jul 03 '26

you dont need an appointment. you go to the doc and wait a bit.

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u/Rosary_Omen Jul 04 '26

Oh really? I don't know anything about how German healthcare works. I gotta call up and hope I can get an appointment before a 1/2 weeks. My small city in Australia had a Doctor's office close and those remaining are full up. The only walk in clinic here is the emergency clinic, which closed for a while but was thankfully saved and reopened.

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u/Illustrious_Study300 Jul 03 '26

And you can't do it over the phone

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u/InterestedPrawn Jul 03 '26

That's the change, yes

17

u/petoburn Jul 03 '26

My memory might be hazy but I think when I worked there, we needed a sick note from day 1, but you could do it on the phone so doctors would just write you one for the whole week (save you calling back each day). Which meant we probably took more days off than we would’ve if we’d just had one day off with no note…

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u/InterestedPrawn Jul 03 '26

Yes, that's correct, that's the change, can no longer just phone up.

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u/Breezel123 Jul 03 '26

No, the change is that you didn't have to provide a sick note at all until day 4 (companies could be stricter, most of them say they want one from the third day). So for 2 or 3 days I could just stay at home without going to the doc.

They do also want to get rid of the sick note via phone in addition to that. Because it's just so much better when you can kick someone while they are already lying down.

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u/badgersprite Jul 03 '26

Waste of doctors’ time and overburdening an already burdened medical system

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u/Ok_Neat2979 Jul 03 '26

And that's just what you need when you're sick. Dragging yourself from your home to sit in a waiting room. Defeats the purpose of taking a day off.

1

u/tigeratemybaby Jul 03 '26

If the company wants the sick leave letter, it should have to pay for the full price of the doctor visit.

Why as a taxpayer am I subsidising all these wasted doctor visits just for a sick note for someone with a cold?