A row has broken out in Germany after the coalition government announced changes to sick leave rules, requiring Germans to provide a doctor’s note to their employers on the first day of their illness.

The changes also mean that workers will not be able to obtain the note by phone, eliminating a measure introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The number of sick leaves in Germany is too high,” said Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Under current regulations, a certificate is only required if a person is unable to work for more than three days, i.e. on the fourth day, although employers have the right to request sick leave earlier.

The plans were agreed by Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and its coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD).

“This is a difficult decision,” the chancellor said. “But we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by long periods of absence from work.”

Merz said the government would not accept what he called “exorbitant” levels of sick leave in the wake of the pandemic.

Germany was “returning to the arrangements we had before the coronavirus pandemic,” he told ARD TV on Thursday evening.

“At the same time, it is up to each company to agree to other agreements.”

Medical groups have sharply criticized the plans.

The KBV, a national association representing compulsory health insurance doctors, considered it “bordering on madness” to force thousands of people to go to doctor’s offices simply to fill out forms.

“Anyone with a cough or a gastrointestinal infection should be in bed, not in a crowded office,” he said in a statement.

The Association of General Practitioners warned that cases of infection, which would have required only one or two days in bed, would fill doctors’ waiting rooms.

SPD leader Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil attempted to calm the situation, telling RTL TV that he was looking for “viable solutions.”

“We now need to make sensible arrangements for what has been proposed in the coalition committee,” he said.

Labor Minister Bärbel Bas, also of the SPD, said she would investigate the requirement to present a medical certificate on the first day of illness.

“That was not my proposal,” Bas told RTL.

“We will see if this actually has any effect or if it is more likely to cause difficulties.”

But Jens Spahn, leader of the CDU parliamentary group, defended the plans.

He said Germany’s sickness absence rate was among the highest in the EU.

“We have one of the highest numbers of sick days: about 18 per year per employee,” he said.

“And those who are really sick should, of course, be able to stay home.”

The changes were agreed as part of sweeping tax, labor and pension reforms aimed at reviving Germany’s economy.