Germany to Loosen Job Protections for Top Earners Under Coalition Labour Deal
Veröffentlicht: 04.07.2026 um 20:56 Uhr, Redaktion boerse-global.de
Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the package, which was finalised during a coalition committee meeting on 2 July 2026. He pointed to Germany’s persistently high sickness absence rate as the main reason for stricter attendance rules. From the first day of illness, employees will now have to present a doctor’s note; the option of a purely telephone-based sick certification is being abolished entirely.
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Medical associations and health insurers have pushed back, warning that the change will overwhelm practices. DAK health-insurance chief Andreas Storm said he doubts the requirement will prevent abuse. “The result will be fuller waiting rooms, not fewer sick notes,” he argued.
The metalworkers’ union IG Metall called the loosening of dismissal protection for top earners an “attack on established employee rights.” Labour law in Germany normally requires employers to prove operational, behavioural or personal grounds for termination. The new carve-out bypasses that rule for the highest-paid staff.
Several recent court rulings have also clarified the boundaries of employment protection. The Hannover Regional Labour Court held that frequent short-term absences do not automatically justify dismissal when the employee has long tenure and family-maintenance obligations. It gave particular weight to the fact that many of the absences occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic; after the pandemic, judges said, such periods would be weighed more strictly.
On parental leave, the Hamm Regional Labour Court ruled on 5 November 2025 that the special dismissal protection applies even when the leave is taken in multiple separate blocks. That decision reinforces the general principle that protection against dismissal in Germany kicks in after a six-month waiting period in firms with more than ten staff. Smaller companies are exempt from the Dismissal Protection Act.
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The evidentiary value of a sick note can also be challenged, the Cologne Regional Labour Court made clear. If an employee’s behaviour or a suspicious timing of absence – for example, shortly after a workplace conflict – raises doubts about the reality of the illness, the burden shifts back to the worker to detail their symptoms. In a separate case, the Hamm court upheld the summary dismissal of an IT consultant who submitted a purely online sick certificate without any personal contact with a doctor. The judges described this as an irreparable breach of trust that made a prior warning unnecessary. Telephone or video-based sick notes remain permissible, but only if the patient actually speaks with a physician.
A landmark ruling by the Federal Labour Court on 7 May 2026 (case no. 2 AZR 184/25) addressed a different practical headache for employers: proving that a document was received. A digital delivery confirmation from the postal service for a registered letter dropped in the recipient’s letterbox is not sufficient evidence that the document arrived, the court said. Employers still carry a heavy burden of proof in termination cases, as well as when inviting workers to the statutory return-to-work process known as the Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement.
