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Online Sick Notes: When They Are Valid and What to Watch Out For
A sick note issued by video consultation is permitted in Germany if a doctor actually sees you and asks you questions. What matters is not the channel but whether genuine contact with a doctor takes place. This overview explains the legal position, the limits and the warning signs of dubious offers.
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Is a sick note issued by video legally valid?
Yes. In Germany a certificate of incapacity for work may only be issued by a doctor. Whether that happens after an examination in a practice or after a video consultation makes no difference to its validity, as long as genuine contact with a doctor took place and the doctor was able to establish the incapacity for work.
Labour courts have expressly recognised private video sick notes. The Arbeitsgericht Erfurt gave such a certificate full evidential value because the doctor had seen the patient in the video consultation and had watched her take her temperature (judgment of 19 July 2023, case no. 4 Ca 32/23).
Does my employer have to accept an online sick note?
The certificate of incapacity for work is the proof provided for in section 5 (1) of the German Continued Remuneration Act. It also applies if you have statutory insurance and the certificate comes from a private doctor.
One difference matters: panel doctors report the incapacity for work electronically to your health insurer, and your employer retrieves it there. That electronic route is open only to the statutory panel-doctor system. From a private doctor you therefore receive the certificate as a document that you submit to your employer yourself.
How do you recognise a reputable provider?
The decisive point is whether a doctor actually speaks to you. Providers who issue a certificate purely on the basis of a completed online questionnaire expose you to a real risk: the Landesarbeitsgericht Hamm upheld the summary dismissal of an employee who had submitted such a certificate (judgment of 5 September 2025, case no. 14 SLa 145/25). The Landgericht Köln held that a diagnosis made purely by questionnaire does not meet the professional standard (judgment of 29 April 2026).
Also check whether there is a complete German legal notice and whether the treating doctor is named. Several medical associations now keep warning lists of names that appear on online certificates without those doctors existing.
What limits apply to a sick note by video?
The doctor sets the duration of the certificate individually during the consultation; a backdated start is possible too, for example after a weekend. What is decisive is always what can be justified medically in the video consultation.
Not every symptom is suitable for a video consultation. With warning signs such as shortness of breath, chest pain, severe or sudden pain, blood in stool or urine, or high fever over several days, a physical examination is necessary. In those cases the appointment is declined and you are referred to the right place.
Which routes exist and how do they differ?
Anyone who needs a sick note without going to a practice has four routes today, with very different requirements. Your family doctor remains the standard: free of charge, with your full medical record, but tied to opening hours and available appointments; at the weekend that route is out.
Telemedicine apps run by the statutory health insurers (for example through TeleClinic or TK-Doc) are free for members of the participating funds. In return they require an account in the relevant app, electronic identification with your health card and, depending on demand, waiting time - and not every fund takes part.
The private video consultation, the route described on this page, is open to everyone, regardless of insurer and app. It costs a private fee that people with statutory insurance pay themselves. In return there is a fixed appointment on the same day, at the weekend too, in the browser without any app.
The fourth route is not one: providers who issue a PDF against payment after a questionnaire, without a doctor ever speaking to you. Such certificates do not survive scrutiny before a labour court (see above), and the conversation you save can cost you your job.
How does it work and what does it cost?
You book an appointment online and the consultation usually takes place within 30 minutes. In the video consultation the doctor sees you, asks questions and then decides. If incapacity for work is medically justifiable, you receive the certificate as a PDF; otherwise you receive a clear recommendation on how to proceed.
The consultation usually costs €49.99 and is billed privately under the German scale of fees for doctors. Statutory health insurance does not reimburse it.
All Topics at a Glance
- What a German Sick Note ContainsWhich details the certificate holds, why your employer never sees a diagnosis and who receives which copy.
- Sick Notes by Phone: What Applies NowThe telephone sick note is being abolished. What still applies today and which route remains.
- A Sick Note From Day OneThe duty from day 1 has been agreed but is not law yet. What applies today and what your employer may already require.
- Continued Pay: Who Pays and for How Long?Six weeks of continued pay, then sick pay. Amounts, waiting periods and what applies in a mini-job.
- Ill for Longer Than Six WeeksWhen sick pay takes over, how much it is and why the certificates have to follow on without gaps.
- Backdated Sick Notes: What Is Possible?Why a certificate for yesterday is the exception and what is possible instead.
- The Electronic Sick Note (eAU)How the employer retrieval works, who it does not cover and what to do when nothing arrives.
- From When Do You Need a Sick Note?Three calendar days by law, from day one if your employer asks. And what is set to change.
- How Long Can You Be Signed Off?How long a doctor may sign you off, how follow-up certificates have to connect and what applies if you return earlier.
- Dismissal While on Sick LeaveWhy a sick note does not protect you from dismissal, what happens to your pay and which deadline is running.
- Ill During Your Probation PeriodContinued pay after four weeks, no protection against dismissal before six months. What that means in practice.
- Sick Notes Without a Doctor: The RiskWhat courts have decided about certificates issued without any doctor contact and how to recognise such providers.
- When Your Employer Refuses ItWhat the Continued Remuneration Act requires, why the eAU is often misunderstood and how evidential value works.
- From a Private Doctor With Statutory InsuranceWhy a private certificate is valid for people with statutory insurance too, and what to keep in mind.
- With a Cold: How Long Are You Signed Off?The usual duration, when seeing a doctor makes sense and when warning signs speak against it.
- A Sick Note at the WeekendWhat applies if you fall ill on a Saturday or Sunday and the practice is closed.
- A Sick Note for Stress and ExhaustionWhat to tell the doctor, what your employer learns, how long is usual and what you may do meanwhile.
- Ill and No Appointment?Report sick first, then sort the certificate: which routes exist besides your family doctor and when video is the right one.
This text is general information and does not replace medical advice in an individual case. In case of acute danger call112; outside consulting hours the German on-call medical service is available on116117.