Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) has called on the CDU/CSU to enter talks about abandoning the disputed new rule requiring a doctor's note from the first day of illness. "I am loyal to the coalition, but we really should ask ourselves again whether this makes sense," the SPD leader told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe (Saturday editions).
She pointed to the exemption planned for companies bound by collective wage agreements. "If I introduce an obligation and then write in 95 exemptions, the question arises as to whether it is needed at all."
The labour minister also announced that she will put forward no proposal on how to implement the sick note requirement from the first day of illness for as long as Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) has not presented further regulations. "The obligation to obtain a sick note from the first day is tied to a guarantee of doctor's appointments and to stroke prevention," Bas explained. "That is the compromise, and it forms a single package."
Responding to the objection that submitting the health minister's Primary Care Act, which would be required for the appointment guarantee, will still take time, Bas said: "That is not in my hands." The SPD leader added: "We did not want waiting days and we did not want any reduction in continued pay. The CDU/CSU wanted both."
In return, the SPD had "agreed through gritted teeth to the obligation to obtain a sick note from the first day, even though we believe it is wrong in substance," the minister said. "My concern is that people with a mild infection will then go to the doctor on the very first day, and a short absence will end up becoming a whole week of sick leave."
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