Paper sick leave abolished – but not for every employee
Created: 01/11/2023 16:47
By: Jasmine Farah
The "yellow ticket" was abolished.
Since January 1st, the health insurance company has informed the employer about sick leave.
But many questions are still open.
An employment lawyer clarifies.
It's been official for a few days now: the sick note is no longer available in paper form from the doctor to present to the employer and the health insurance company.
Instead, it is now electronic in the course of digitization.
This means that employees who are on sick leave will not receive a copy of the certificate of incapacity for work (AU) for the employer in the future.
Certificate of incapacity for work will be converted to digital
Instead, the health insurance company will inform the boss electronically in the future about the duration of the inability to work.
However, the latter must actively request it.
For the employee, on the other hand, this is more convenient, as it saves them having to go to the post office.
But: "What sounds simple at first glance has its pitfalls in practice," says Janine Krupa-Soltane, specialist lawyer for labor law at the international law firm Taylor Wessing.
Anyone who is ill should continue to deregister with their employer despite electronic sick leave.
© Science Photo Library/imago
Because: The electronic AU only applies to those with statutory insurance, but not for those with private insurance.
"And then only if an employee takes sick leave from a contract doctor," adds Krupa-Soltane to the
Handelsblatt
.
But: Statutory insured persons continue to receive their part of the certificate of incapacity for work in paper form for document storage.
The diagnosis is noted on it, which is usually not communicated to the employer.
It is not yet known when this part will be digitized.
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Employees still have to report sick to their boss by phone or digitally
There is no obligation for employers to send the AU to the HR department by post or email.
But that doesn't mean that you no longer have to inform your employer about the illness by phone or digitally or deregister.
After all, the boss can only then use the system to call up the eAU.
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In addition, employees are obliged, unless otherwise agreed in the employment contract, to have their doctor write them off on their fourth day of illness at the latest.
If this is not possible, you can have this issued retrospectively for up to three days, as before.
Anyone who is ill for a longer period of time or even has to go to a clinic for a longer period of time is also obliged to inform their employer of the expected duration.
If you don't do it or forget it, you can even get a warning.
