Sickness absence due to mandatory COVID-19 certificates in the workplace.

ABSTRACT:

Background

As vaccines for COVID-19 became available, many countries introduced an obligation in 2021 for employees to prove their COVID-19 status at work, known in Germany as the 3G rule (vaccinated, recovered, tested). In view of the controversial debate, there was concern that employees might try to avoid providing mandatory COVID-19 certificates by taking sick leave. The aim of this study was to investigate whether mandatory COVID-19 tests in the workplace led to such an evasive response.

Method

For an empirical panel analysis, we collected data from official sources and combined aggregated health insurance data on sick leave, epidemiological data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections, and vaccination rates for the German states from September 2021 to January 2022.

SUBMITTER: Wanger S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10401870 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature