For more than a year and a half, employees in large companies no longer have to submit a sick note for one day’s absence up to three times a year. The measure also applies to federal officials. Deputy Prime Ministers Petra De Sutter and Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) have been advocating for the expansion of abolition for some time now. Figures from the federal institution Medex provide ammunition to reinforce that proposal.
“We now see that the number of sick days among federal government employees is decreasing since they can do this three times a year. In total, fewer sick days were recorded in the federal government in the first half of 2023. At the beginning of 2023, 6.95 percent of the staff was sick. In 2022 that was 7.3 percent,” says Minister De Sutter. Slightly more people were sick for one day: 4.8 percent in 2023, compared to 3.6 percent in 2022.
“If you abolish the sick note for a short period of time, people will be ill for less time. They feel better after 1 or 2 days and come back to work, while doctors often prescribe a longer term for safety reasons. It is also good that people stay away from work for a short time, because this way they infect fewer other people,” she explains.
With her proposal she wants to respond to a complaint from general practitioners who, by issuing certificates, do not have enough time for their patients. The expansion would also save money that could be used elsewhere.