The Friday-Monday Sickness Habit: One-Day Sick Notes Cluster Heavily Around Weekends

Nearly 44 percent of all single-day sick notes in the most recent reporting period fell on a Friday or a Monday, according to the 2025 Barometr Absencji Chorobowej industry report cited by Miko?aj Zaj?c of Conperio. Fridays alone accounted for 23.6 percent of one-day absences, with Mondays taking 20.5 percent.

Industry observers add that telemedicine consultations have made it easier to obtain fictitious sick notes — a development that sits alongside an already elevated level of absenteeism.

Absence levels remain high

Employees in Germany reported sick for an average of around 18.6 days between January and November 2025, according to data from Techniker Krankenkasse. For the full year 2021, the comparable figure was roughly 13 days.

An IGES analysis for DAK put the sickness rate at 5.3 percent in the first half of 2026, down from 5.4 percent a year earlier, while the average case duration rose from 9.5 to 9.7 days.

Surveys suggest that not every sick note reflects genuine illness. In a YouGov poll conducted last year, more than one in four respondents admitted to having missed work under false pretences at some point. A Pronova BKK study found that 60 percent of employees had called in sick despite feeling fit enough to work, and seven percent said they do so frequently.

What the law requires — and what employers can demand

Under the Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz (the Continued Remuneration Act), employees are currently obliged to notify their employer on the first day of illness, while a doctor's certificate is only required after more than three calendar days. Employers, however, are entitled to request a certificate earlier.

Talks are under way between the Federal Ministry of Labour and the Federal Ministry of Health on the matter, and a corresponding draft bill is being prepared according to the Federal Ministry of Health. At the government press conference on 30 October 2026, however, no firm commitment was given on an entry-into-force date of 1 January 2027.

Specialist employment lawyers stress that companies do not have to accept repeated sick notes submitted while an employee is actually fit for work. Control mechanisms also exist elsewhere: in Poland, employers and the social insurance institution ZUS can check employees at the location stated on the sick note.

Where abuse is proven there, the consequences can include loss of sickness benefit and either ordinary dismissal for disrupting work organisation or summary dismissal under Article 52 of the Polish Labour Code. Employers can apply to ZUS to have the legality of a certificate reviewed.

Social welfare rules apply as well. Under SGB II (the German social code for jobseekers), benefit recipients must report incapacity for work without delay and provide medical proof by the third calendar day at the latest. Jobcentres may not simply discard a certificate on their own authority; if in doubt, they must involve the Medical Service of the Federal Employment Agency. Repeated sick notes coinciding with appointment dates can justify such checks.

Courts tighten the rules on evidence

Case law has confirmed employers' room to act once the evidentiary value of a medical certificate is shaken. Landmark rulings by the Bundesarbeitsgericht (Federal Labour Court) hold that this value can fall away after an overall assessment of the circumstances, which may satisfy the conditions for dismissal for good cause under § 626 BGB (the German Civil Code).

The Arbeitsgericht Gelsenkirchen (Gelsenkirchen Labour Court) confirmed the validity of a summary dismissal in a widely reported ruling dated 22 January 2026 (case no. 4 Ca 1085/25). An employee had submitted a certificate citing back pain for a booked holiday period after a leave request was rejected — yet worked that Friday and admitted in court that no physical examination had taken place.

In September 2025, the Landesarbeitsgericht Hamm (Hamm Regional Labour Court) likewise ruled that the evidentiary value of an online sick note issued without prior contact with a doctor was shaken and justified summary dismissal. Lawyers also treat the deliberate threat of illness — for instance when a transfer looms — as criminal coercion under § 240 StGB (the German Criminal Code).

The courts are also dealing with organised fraud. On 11 November 2026 at 9 a.m., the Landgericht Bielefeld (Bielefeld Regional Court) opens a trial scheduled for twelve hearing days against four defendants from North Rhine-Westphalia.

Prosecutors allege that a psychiatrist involved issued 86 certificates for 18 employees at a fee of 250 euros each, while a general practitioner involved issued 222 certificates. The resulting damage to employers and social insurance funds exceeded 170,000 euros in compensation and sickness benefit payments.