How Long Can You Be Signed Off Sick?

How long may a doctor sign you off?

There is no fixed statutory upper limit. What counts is the medical assessment of how long the illness is likely to keep you from your work. In practice a first certificate is rarely issued for more than two weeks in advance, because a prognosis beyond that period can hardly be made responsibly.

If the illness lasts longer, the answer is not a new estimate but a new look: you present yourself again, the course is assessed and, where appropriate, a follow-up certificate follows.

How must a follow-up certificate connect?

Without a gap. The follow-up certificate has to follow on directly from the last certified day, so it has to be issued on the next working day at the latest. If a day without proof arises in between, that day formally counts as a working day on which you were absent without excuse, and continued pay can be lost for that period.

In practice that means: if your sick note runs out on a Friday and you are still ill on Monday, you need an appointment on the Monday, not on the Tuesday.

How long does your salary continue?

Your employer continues to pay for six weeks, after which the health insurer takes over with sick pay for people with statutory insurance. The six weeks apply per illness. If a further illness arises during an existing period of incapacity, the period does not start again.

If you later fall ill again with the same condition, a new entitlement can arise if at least six months lay between the illnesses or twelve months have passed since the first incapacity for work.

How long are people signed off for which illness?

There are no fixed figures, because the duration depends on the illness, its course and your job. As a rough guide: a common cold puts most people out of action for a few days, genuine influenza considerably longer, a stomach bug usually somewhere in between.

What matters is not the average but your case. Someone doing physical work or handling food may be unable to work longer than someone with the same illness at a desk.

What if you recover earlier?

Then you may return earlier. The certificate states the expected duration; it is not an obligation to stay at home that long. You do not need a medical clearance for that, and your employer may not require one as a condition for your return.

It still makes sense to give brief notice so that staffing can be planned. And of course you should genuinely be fit for work again: returning too early risks a relapse and a longer second round.

How long is a sick note from a video consultation valid?

The doctor sets that individually during the consultation. What counts is what can be assessed reliably in a video consultation: for acute, manageable symptoms usually a few days, and for a longer course with a fresh assessment at a follow-up appointment.

Whether a follow-up certificate is possible is decided by the doctor after a further examination in a follow-up appointment. Often further treatment belongs in a local practice that can examine you physically; no extension is held out as a prospect.

The consultation usually costs €49.99 and is billed privately under the German scale of fees for doctors. Whether incapacity for work can be certified is decided by the doctor during the consultation.