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Sick Notes by Phone: What Applies Now
In short: the telephone sick note is being abolished, but there is no law on it yet. Sick notes by video consultation expressly remain. This page sets out what applies today, what is changing and which route is left to you.
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Does the telephone sick note still exist?
For now yes, but it is being phased out. The option of being signed off after a phone call for mild respiratory symptoms was made permanent by the Federal Joint Committee in 2023. On 2 July 2026 the coalition committee agreed to abolish it again. There is no law on it yet, so the rule applies until further notice.
Worth knowing: it always applied in a limited way. It required that the practice already knew you, that the illness was a mild condition of the upper airways and that there was no suspicion of anything more serious. For people unknown to the practice the route was never open.
Why is it being abolished?
The reasoning is a suspicion of misuse: on the phone a doctor can neither see nor examine the patient. The finding rests on the spoken word alone. Politically this was tied to the aim of reducing sickness absence and tightening the duty of proof.
The same decision provides that in future the certificate has to be presented from the first day of illness instead of the fourth. Together that means more duty of proof with fewer ways to meet it.
Will sick notes by video remain?
Yes. The video consultation is expressly not affected by the planned abolition and is even named in the political reasoning as the route that remains. The difference is the medical impression: on video the doctor sees you, can look at your general condition, ask targeted questions and, for example, have you show a temperature reading.
That is exactly what the labour courts focus on. The Arbeitsgericht Erfurt gave a private video sick note full evidential value because the doctor had seen the patient and watched her take her temperature (judgment of 19 July 2023, case no. 4 Ca 32/23).
What exactly is the difference between video and phone?
On the phone there is no visual contact, and with it goes the part of the examination a doctor can carry out without touching you: skin colour, breathing, general condition, whether someone is visibly exhausted. In a video consultation that is available, and it can be documented.
For you that has a practical advantage: a certificate based on genuine picture and sound contact is considerably harder for an employer to question than one based on a phone call, let alone on a completed form.
What do you do if you are ill right now?
If your family practice can be reached and has an appointment, that is always the first route. If you cannot get one, the video consultation remains: you choose an appointment online, speak by video to a doctor licensed in Germany, and if incapacity for work is medically justifiable you receive the certificate as a PDF. The doctor sets the duration individually; a backdated start is possible too.
The consultation usually costs €49.99 and is billed privately under the German scale of fees for doctors. With warning signs such as shortness of breath, chest pain or sudden severe pain, by contrast, the examination belongs in a practice or an emergency department, not in a video consultation.
This text is general information and does not replace medical or legal advice in an individual case. In case of acute danger call 112; outside consulting hours the German on-call medical service is available on 116117.