Facing the high levels of sick leave in Germany, employer‑association president Rainer Dulger argues that workers should receive no pay on their first day of illness. “The current high rates of absenteeism are a serious problem” Dulger told the news portal T‑Online. “Anything that makes abuse of sick‑leave claims more difficult is therefore helpful”. He suggested introducing a waiting day: the employer would pay wages only from the second day of illness, while the first day could be counted as a lost day.
“The advantage of such a system” Dulger added, “is that those who are genuinely ill and absent for a long time would still receive the same benefits as today. This model would help further reduce very short absences and shift the focus onto genuinely necessary time off”.
Regarding rising social contributions and funding gaps in statutory health insurance, Dulger also called on the federal government to fully cover the health costs of the roughly five million citizens receiving Bürgergeld (basic income). “We need a clean financing solution” he said. “The government currently pays the health insurers about €140 per basic‑income recipient, which does not cover the true costs. The missing roughly €10 billion are borne by the contributors today. If the government took its share in full, contributions could noticeably drop”.
