Sick leave: how to call in sick properly

📖 Lesson ──▶ 🎯 Quiz — pick the translation ──▶ ✅ Lesson done

Sick? Call the boss before your shift starts (not by SMS!). Up to 3 days (or what the contract says) you just say "ich bin krank" — no doctor needed. Longer requires the Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung (AU): the doctor gives a note with an "until" date. The employer pays 100% for the first 6 weeks, then the Krankenkasse ~70%. Calling in is no drama: illness is no reason for dismissal.

●The AU is valid from the doctor’s date — retroactive is not possible (except holidays/weekends)
●Sick on holiday? The AU "saves" vacation days — they count as sick
●Often sick >6 weeks? The boss can request a BEM (rehab plan)

🌡 Germans average 11 sick days a year — normal, not abuse. Coming in sick ("Präsentismus") is worse: you infect colleagues.

🎯

Test yourself!

Practice the topic with the trainer — like after class

Quiz — pick the translation → 🖨 Worksheet

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