Dusseldorf The yellow note from the doctor is disappearing: In the future, people with statutory insurance will no longer be given a copy of the certificate of incapacity for work for their employer if they are on sick leave. From January 1, 2023, the health insurance company will instead inform the boss electronically about the duration of the inability to work.
According to the leading association of statutory health insurance companies, around 77 million AU certificates are issued nationwide every year. So far, each has consisted of four forms – one each for the doctor and patient, the other two had to be forwarded to the sick employee to his insurance company or his employer. This procedure is now to be simplified.
“What sounds simple at first glance has its pitfalls in practice,” says Janine Krupa-Soltane. The specialist lawyer for labor law from the international law firm Taylor Wessing answers the most important questions about the new procedure for the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU):
Doctors and clinics already record patient data digitally and transmit it to almost 100 statutory health insurance companies. From January, the insurance companies should now inform those employers whose employees have been on sick leave.
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Does the certificate of incapacity for work in paper form become completely unnecessary?
No, only partially. The electronic AU is only available for those who are legally insured, but not for those who are privately insured, and only if an employee takes sick leave from a panel doctor. In addition, those with statutory health insurance will continue to receive their part of the certificate of incapacity for work in paper form. This includes the diagnosis, which the employee usually does not tell his employer. It will be a while before this part is digitized as well.
Does the eAU change anything about sick leave for employees?
There is no longer any obligation to send the certificate of incapacity to work to the HR department by post or digitally. Instead, in future employers will have to call up the eAU in each individual case. The new procedure does not change the fact that you have to report sick to your employer. Unless otherwise agreed in the employment contract, employees should submit a certificate of incapacity to work to their employer no later than on the fourth day of illness. This obligation still exists.
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So if you phone the boss on Monday to report sick, for example, you would have to get a sick note from the doctor by Thursday at the latest. As usual, this is possible retrospectively for up to three days. Anyone planning a longer hospital stay informs the employer about the probable duration: “I’ll be ill for the next two weeks.” Anyone who forgets to inform their employer in good time can be given a warning.
Do employees still have to inform their superiors about their incapacity to work by telephone or e-mail despite the eAU?
yes they have to Because only after the employer has been informed by the insured person about the sick leave can the boss use the system to call up the eAU.
What will change for employers?
For some personnel managers, the procedure becomes more cumbersome, while others find it a relief. So far, the employer has waited for the employee to submit their AU. Now the company itself has to take care of receiving the eAU on time. But the employer no longer has to run after defaulting employees.
This is the new procedure: The doctor signs the sick note electronically. This process takes some time, which is why the doctors resort to batch signatures: the doctor identifies himself in the system after the end of his consultation hours and signs all electronic AUs that have accumulated during the day and only then forwards them digitally to the health insurance companies.
This means that it makes sense for the employer to request the eAU at the earliest one day after the doctor’s visit. The employer should document that and when an employee reported being ill.
What do employers have to pay particular attention to when it comes to the eAU?
An employer may not call up electronic certificates of incapacity for work from the health insurance companies as a general or prophylactic measure for all employees. But only if his employee has called in sick and is still employed by him.
What if the illness persists and the doctor continues to call in sick?
The follow-up certificate is a new process – everything from the information to the employer to his retrieval of the eAU from the insurance company starts from the beginning.
Are there doctors who do not issue an electronic certificate of incapacity for work?
Private doctors and clinics are not obliged to connect to the electronic AU system. They continue to issue the classic yellow slip, the employer part of which must then be sent by the insured person to the HR department.
Are there differences between health insurance and private patients?
Yes, private patients are not recorded. You stay with the usual paper process. If a person with statutory health insurance takes sick leave from a private doctor, the employer cannot call up an eAU.
Are professional groups among those with statutory health insurance excluded from the eAU?
Mini-jobbers in private households are an exception: their employers do not have to join the eAU system.
What happens in the event of a technical fault – do I not get a salary then?
No, there is no danger. If there is a technical breakdown at the doctor’s, insured persons should request the classic expression for the employer and transmit it to the boss themselves as before.
If I fall ill abroad, can doctors outside of Germany take part in the eAU procedure?
The electronic certificate of incapacity for work only works in Germany. In this case, employees should provide information about the illness as before by telephone, e-mail or post and submit a corresponding certificate of incapacity for work in paper form or in digital form so that they meet the boss’s requirements.
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