The new eAU replaces the yellow copy of the AU
Until the end of 2022, there was always a yellow copy of the certificate of incapacity for work (AU) when reporting sick. Insured persons had to send this to their employer themselves – that’s over now.
Instead, the copy for the employer is now available in electronic form for those with statutory health insurance. This so-called electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU) is sent directly to the insurance company by the doctor treating you. Employers no longer receive the certificate from their employees, but retrieve it from a digital database. The aim is to simplify the system that existed until the end of last year, in which four certificates were issued as part of a sick note: one for the insured person, one for the employer, one for the health insurance company and one for the doctor. The certificate for the health insurance company has been available in digital form for some time and the certificates for insured persons and their treating physicians are also to be digitized in the future. But it will probably take a while until then.
An eAU cannot always be issued
Janine Krupa-Soltane is a specialist lawyer for labor law at the international law firm Taylor Wessing and explained to the Handelsblatt what insured persons and employers have to consider with the new eAU.
First of all, it is important that only those with statutory health insurance receive an eAU, and only if they take sick leave from panel doctors. Private practices are not obliged to the eAU and privately insured persons are not included in the system. Anyone who works a mini-job in a private household should also ask for the paper form when they take sick leave, because employers are not obliged to take part in the system. The same applies if no eAU can be issued due to a technical fault or the certificate is for an employer abroad. Anyone who falls ill abroad should also submit the paper certificate issued there. The conclusion: the eAU is the new standard, but does not completely replace the yellow note.
Insured persons must inform their employer about the present eAU
However, anyone who is actually legally insured and receives an AU for a domestic employer from a contract doctor must note the following: It is still the case that a sick note as an excuse at work is mandatory. As usual, you must be able to present an eAU retrospectively no later than on the fourth day of sick leave. You also have to inform your employer about your own absence, as you did until the end of last year. “Anyone who forgets to deregister with their employer in good time can be given a warning,” Krupa-Soltane told the Handelsblatt.
However, because under the new system employers are not allowed to regularly call up their employees’ data as a prophylactic measure, employees must write a second email after the doctor’s appointment and inform the employer that an eAU has been issued, explains Krupa-Soltane. Because the digital signing of the eAU takes a long time, according to the employment lawyer, many doctors only do it after the office hours at the end of the day. She therefore recommends that employers always wait until the next day to retrieve the eAU, which saves them unnecessary work. Finally, she explains the procedure for longer illnesses when a new eAU is issued: “The follow-up certificate is a new process – everything from the information to the employer to his retrieval of the eAU from the insurance company starts all over again.”
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