According to the Krone Zeitung, this has already been agreed in some federal states. He said he could even imagine virtual doctor’s appointments, using video conferencing, becoming a permanent solution in determining sick leave. The legislation is in place until the end of the year, but ÖGK chairman Andreas Huss said in an interview with broadcaster ORF’s Ö1 channel that the new measures could be in place until the end of the fourth wave in Austria. How long could this new legislation last? If you have been admitted as an inpatient admission to a hospital, spa or rehabilitation facility, this automatically leads to a notification of illness with the ÖGK. However, some elective doctors will do this for their patients. If you want to choose a doctor other than your family doctor to establish if you should be on sick leave, you as the patient must send written confirmation of the sick leave to the ÖGK by post or fax or hand it in to an ÖGK customer service point. Supposing I want to use a different doctor? The doctor writes a sick note and notifies the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) that you will be off work. In most cases in Austria, people use their family doctor. The sick leave begins on the day the doctor reports you as sick. It cites as an example a sprained ankle, which would stop a roofer from working, but would not stop an employee carrying out a desk job. In general if you need to take some sick days from work, the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) must be notified for official sick leave as well as your employer.Īccording to the ÖGK you must go to a doctor to “determine the illness and the associated incapacity for work”. For other illnesses they needed to see a doctor to get a sick note but now they have the option of calling once again.Ĭan’t I normally call in sick by telephone? Over the summer it was only possible for employees to do this if they believed they might be suffering from a Covid-19 infection. The new legislation allows employees to call their doctor in order to be officially signed off sick, rather than visit them for an appointment. But given the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Austria the government has deemed it necessary to again relax the rules around calling in sick. The new legislation was introduced in November last year, and was in place until July 2021.

Jolly Card Tab Austria MAME