Krankmeldung in German: Calling In Sick to Work and Getting Your AU

You wake up too sick to work. In Germany the next sixty minutes are scripted, and the script is in German. You owe your employer a Krankmeldung — a notification that you're not coming in — and you need an AU (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung) from a Hausarzt to back it up. Both happen by phone, in German, before most people have had coffee.

This article is the script for both calls. It's part of the German bureaucracy survival guide, the GoetheCoach pillar covering the four bureaucratic moments every expat in Germany faces.

What German law says about your sick day

Your sick-day rights and duties live in two places. The Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz (EFZG) — the federal law on continued pay — says that in §5, you must notify your employer "unverzüglich" (immediately) when you can't work, and you must produce a doctor's certificate by the fourth day of illness at the latest. The Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (BMAS) administers this rule.

But "by day 4" is the legal floor, not the workplace reality. Most German employment contracts in 2026 require the AU from day 1. Read your Arbeitsvertrag before you need it; if it says ab dem ersten Krankheitstag you owe the AU on the same day you call in sick. If it doesn't specify, day 4 is your latest deadline.

The Krankmeldung itself is the verbal notification — the phone call to your manager. The AU is the paper (now electronic) certificate from the doctor. Different things, both required.

Call 1: Your manager (3 minutes)

Make this call as early as possible — ideally before your normal start time, never after. Most managers expect a phone call, not a text or email, unless your team has agreed otherwise in writing.

The call is short. Three sentences carry it.

If your manager asks how long you'll be out, the safe answer is Ich weiß es noch nicht — ich gehe heute zum Hausarzt und melde mich dann wieder. ("I don't know yet — I'm going to the Hausarzt today and will get back to you.") Don't promise a return date you can't keep; the AU determines the official duration.

If you cannot speak German well enough to do this in German that morning, send a short German text first — Guten Morgen, ich bin krank, kann heute nicht arbeiten, gehe zum Arzt und melde mich später. — and follow up by phone or email later in the day in whichever language your manager speaks. The legal duty is to notify "unverzüglich"; the language is not specified.

Call 2: Your Hausarzt for a Termin (5 minutes)

A Hausarzt is your registered family doctor. If you don't have one yet, the Krankenkasse phone calls phrasebook covers how to find and register with one — but for today, any Hausarztpraxis that accepts walk-in or same-day phone Termine will do.

The receptionist's German is fast. Here's the structure of the call.

The single most important phrase in the entire call is the last one. The receptionist will give you a Termin time and possibly a "kommen Sie um zehn" (come at ten); make sure you've understood it before hanging up. Repeat the time back: Also um zehn Uhr — ist das richtig? ("So at ten o'clock — is that right?")

Symptom vocabulary you'll need (A2 health)

These are the eight symptom words that cover ~90% of Hausarzt phone calls. They're in the Goethe-Institut A2 Wortschatzliste under Gesundheit (health) — the same word list a Goethe-Zertifikat A2 candidate meets on the Schreiben section.

Use the construction Ich habe <Symptom>. — "I have a fever" = Ich habe Fieber. (No article for Fieber.) For sore throat: Ich habe Halsschmerzen. (Plural form, no article either.)

Free Finanzamt phrase bank — download here

If you'd like the Krankmeldung phrases plus the 47 other German bureaucracy lines (Bürgeramt, Finanzamt, Ausländerbehörde, Krankenkasse) on one PDF you can keep on your phone, download the free Finanzamt phrase bank. It's organised by chapter — Bürgeramt, Finanzamt, Ausländerbehörde, Krankenkasse — with register markers, English glosses, and pronunciation hints for every phrase. Free for your email.

How the eAU works (and why it changes nothing for you)

Since January 2023 the AU is electronic. The official term is eAU — elektronische Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung. The Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG) and the GKV-Spitzenverband rolled it out across all statutory Krankenkassen.

Practically this means:

• The Hausarzt sends the eAU directly to your Krankenkasse from the practice computer.
• Your employer pulls the eAU from the Krankenkasse — you do not deliver paper.
• You may still receive a printed copy at the practice. Keep it. Don't post it.
• For private insurance (PKV) the rules differ — you may still need to send the paper certificate to your employer.

The thing that hasn't changed: you still must call your manager. The eAU replaces the paper-handover step, not the notification step. The Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz §5 obligation to notify "unverzüglich" stands.

A note on Anmeldung-stage learners: if you've recently completed your Anmeldung at the Bürgeramt and your Krankenkasse signup is still in progress, the Hausarzt may ask you to provide the membership confirmation later. Bring whatever you have on the day; don't postpone the appointment.

What if you're too sick to call

If you genuinely can't talk — high fever, vomiting, voice gone — you have three options, in order:

1. Send a German text/email to your manager with Guten Morgen, ich bin krank und kann heute nicht arbeiten. Ich melde mich später. That covers the "unverzüglich" duty. 2. Have a partner or roommate call the Hausarzt for you. They can book the Termin in your name with your date of birth and Krankenkasse name. 3. Call the Krankenkasse hotline — most major Krankenkassen (TK, AOK, Barmer, DAK) have multilingual hotlines that can help with locating a doctor or arranging telehealth in a pinch. The hotline number is on your insurance card.

The doctor will not penalise you for poor German on the phone. They will reassign your appointment if you don't show up because of communication confusion. So if in doubt, ask Können Sie das bitte langsamer wiederholen? — repeat that phrase as many times as you need.

Key takeaways

• A Krankmeldung is two morning phone calls in this order: your manager first, your Hausarzt second. The single core sentence is Ich bin krank und kann heute nicht zur Arbeit kommen.
• The legal floor is AU by day 4; many German employment contracts require it from day 1. Read your Arbeitsvertrag now, before you need it.
• Three pieces of information unlock any Hausarzt Termin: full name, date of birth, Krankenkasse name. Memorise them as a single phrase.
• The eAU replaces the paper handover — your doctor sends it electronically to your Krankenkasse, and your employer pulls it from there. You still must call to notify.
• Eight symptom words (Fieber, Husten, Schnupfen, Halsschmerzen, Kopfschmerzen, Magen-Darm, Übelkeit, Müdigkeit) cover almost every Hausarzt phone call at A2 level.
• Können Sie das bitte langsamer wiederholen? is the single most useful sentence in any German bureaucratic phone call. Use it without hesitation.

Frequently asked questions

Cited sources

• Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (BMAS) — Entgeltfortzahlungsgesetz §5 (notification and certificate obligations).
• Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG) — eAU framework, federal rollout January 2023.
• GKV-Spitzenverband — eAU electronic transmission to statutory Krankenkassen.
• Goethe-Institut — A2 Wortschatzliste, health vocabulary.
• GoetheCoach internal: Pillar 7.0 — German Bureaucracy hub article (2026-05-09).