From January 1, 2023, the reporting procedure for electronic certificates of incapacity for work (eAU) will be mandatory for employers. The paper certificate of incapacity for work will then be obsolete – with a few exceptions.
Back in 2019, the Bundestag decided to introduce an electronic certificate of incapacity for work in the Bureaucracy Relief Act III. Implementation has already been postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the eAU procedure, employees will soon no longer have to present their certificate of incapacity for work to their employer. Instead, employers will have to call up certificates of incapacity for work themselves from the relevant health insurance fund.
Although the digital solution is intended to ease the burden on companies, it is likely to have the opposite effect initially.
Are all employees affected by the eAU?
The new regulation applies to employees with statutory health insurance. Privately insured persons are not affected by the eAU. Privately insured employees are still obliged to submit the medical certificate to their employer themselves. Medical certificates from doctors abroad also remain unaffected by the new regulation.
How does the new procedure work?
- The attending physician who has diagnosed the employee’s incapacity for work transmits the necessary data electronically to the responsible health insurance fund (by midnight of the same day at the latest).
- The employee still receives a hard copy of the certificate of incapacity for work.
- Employees must continue to inform their employer immediately of any incapacity for work that has been established and of the expected duration of the incapacity for work (obligation to notify). The obligation to submit this information no longer applies.
- Once the employer has been informed by the employee of the incapacity for work, they can request and retrieve the incapacity for work data from the relevant health insurance fund. An automatic transfer of the eAU does not take place.
What information does the eAU contain?
- Name of the employee
- Start and end of incapacity for work
- Date of medical assessment of incapacity for work
- Marking as initial or follow-up certificate
- Indication of whether there are indications that the certificate of incapacity for work is based on an accident at work or other accident or on the consequences of an accident at work or other accident.
The issuing doctor is no longer specified
Unfortunately, in future the information will no longer include which doctor diagnosed the incapacity for work. Due to a lack of knowledge of the treating doctor, employers will no longer be able to apply to the health insurance fund to obtain an expert opinion from the Medical Service if the incapacity for work was determined by a doctor who has become conspicuous due to the frequency of certificates of incapacity for work issued and there are therefore doubts about this incapacity for work. The health insurance fund must now fulfill this obligation on its own initiative in accordance with § 275 Para. 1 a No. 1 SGB V, without the employer being able to check this.
This also makes it more difficult for the employer to check whether or not there is a continuation of illness within the meaning of Section 3 I 2 EFZG.
What are the implications of the new procedure for employers?
A new procedure must be established in companies. The employee is no longer required to submit a sick note, but the obligation to notify remains. Existing workflows for time recording and payroll accounting must be adapted so that the HR department can take proactive action when a sick note is received.
Mini-jobbers also take part in the procedure. For this reason, it will be necessary in future for mini-jobbers to provide information on their health insurance fund. This can be done by asking for this information in the recruitment questionnaire at the start of employment.
Employers must also review and adapt individual contractual and collective regulations.
The introduction of the eAU also leads to uncertainties. Failure to report sick on time – which can also be caused by a delay in reporting to the health insurance fund – can have an impact on continued remuneration and even lead to unexcused absences among employees.
Conclusion
It will probably be some time before the eAU brings relief for companies – as envisaged by the legislator. It is advisable to adapt all processes as quickly as possible and inform all employees of the changes.
The members of the TIGGES employment law team will be happy to answer your questions at any time!
