Krankmeldung: How to Call In Sick in Germany

If you wake up too sick to work in Germany, your first and most urgent obligation is simple: tell your employer as soon as possible, ideally before your shift starts, by whatever method your workplace normally uses. This step hasn't changed and still depends entirely on you — nothing digital does it automatically.

What has changed is everything after that. As of 2026, the paper Krankschreibung (informally still called the "gelber Schein," the yellow slip, even though it's no longer paper) is gone entirely for anyone on public health insurance. When your doctor determines you're unfit for work, the practice transmits that certificate electronically and securely straight to your Krankenkasse — you don't carry, submit, or mail anything yourself.

Your employer then retrieves the relevant details — that you're unfit for work and for how long — directly from your Krankenkasse electronically. They don't see your diagnosis or the reason for your sick leave, only the fact and duration of your incapacity, so your medical privacy stays intact even though the process is now automatic on the employer's side.

Most employers still expect a doctor's confirmation from the third day of illness onward (some contracts or workplace agreements require it from day one, so check yours), but the practical difference for you is that once you've seen the doctor, your job is done — you don't need to chase down a form or make sure it reaches the right desk.

One group this doesn't apply to: if you're privately insured (PKV) rather than in the statutory system, the electronic pipeline to a Krankenkasse doesn't exist for you in the same way, and you may still get a simple written certificate to pass along yourself — check with your specific insurer and employer about what they expect.

If you're sick while abroad — visiting family, on holiday — the notification obligation to your employer still applies immediately, and you'll need a doctor's certificate from that country, which typically has to be sent to your employer and Krankenkasse the traditional way, by post or scan, since the German electronic system generally can't reach a foreign doctor's practice.