Labor vows to protect personal leave as Germany bans workers from calling in sick
A major nation has stunned the world with a massive change to sick leave laws. Now, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has reacted to the news.


News.com.au
July 3, 2026

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has vowed to protect sick leave in Australia after Germany sensationally banned calling in sick overnight.

There’s been a stunned reaction to sweeping new changes in Germany that mean Germans will have to report to a doctor in person to get a sick note on the first day they are sick.   

Reacting to the news, Dr Chalmers has promised the government here in Australia will be protected it all costs.

“Australian workers are entitled to their sick leave and the Albanese Government will always defend their entitlements,” he told news.com.au.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has reacted to the news.

“Workers shouldn’t have to forgo their pay to take a day off when they’re sick, and that’s why we have strong laws protecting sick leave here in Australia.

“Whether it’s the tax cuts for every taxpayer, higher wages and cost of living relief rolling out from this week, or by protecting entitlements like sick leave, we’ll always back Australian workers and we show that consistently.”


Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Amanda Rishworth said Labor has no intention of changing the current personal leave entitlement settings in Australia.

Germany’s ruling coalition made the change as part of sweeping tax, labour and pension reforms, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, a breakthrough aimed at reviving the struggling economy and countering the rise of the far right.

“We can no longer accept the extraordinarily high levels of sick leave in our companies,” Mr Merz told reporters.


“We are abolishing sick leave by telephone and introducing the requirement to submit a medical certificate from the very first day of illness.

“We know this is a tough decision. But we can no longer afford this competitive disadvantage caused by prolonged absences from work.”

The move has been welcomed by big businesses in Germany, but has angered the nation’s powerful trade unions.

Frank Werneke, the head of the services sector union Verdi, accused the government of creating “a culture of distrust of employees”.

Doctors are also stunned by the plans, warning it would overburden them with unnecessary appointments.

“Our practices would be flooded with patients who don’t need in-person care and would be better off in bed,” said the German Association of Family Physicians. It called the measure “an absolute catastrophe”.


Germans, on average, take about three weeks, or 15 working days, of sick leave per year. This is much higher than in Australia, where employees take an average of 6.8 to 9.7 days of sick leave per year. In Australia, full-time workers are legally entitled to 10 days of paid personal leave annually, which carries over if unused.

In Australia, you do not automatically need a sick note to be off sick, but your employer has a legal right to ask for evidence for any absence.

Germany’s level of sick leave is lower than in France and most Nordic countries, but much higher than Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Italy.