Thuringia's Health Minister criticizes the planned end to the 15 children's sick days

Thuringia's Health Minister Katharina Schenk (SPD) criticized the expiry of the 15-day rule for children's sick days as sending the wrong signal. “Family-friendliness should not be measured by what is most convenient for the economy,” said Schenk.

Federal Health Minister Carsten Linnemann had previously signaled that the regulation should not be extended. “This is a rule that we introduced during Corona,” said the CDU politician in the government survey in the Bundestag. He added that politicians would do well “to ensure that special rules that existed for Corona are withdrawn.”

Before the corona pandemic, there were ten children's sick days per parent per year; currently, after the regulations were extended several times during the pandemic, it is still 15 days.

Many do not take full advantage of the regulation

Schenk pointed out that “the vast majority of parents” did not make the most of the 15 days. Recently, usage has even declined. Last year, an average child illness case was submitted for 2.5 days, the minister calculated. “So you can ask the question: Why is this signal of mistrust towards parents needed now?”

The left-wing social politician Lena Saniye Güngör said that just because the children's sick days have been used up, a feverish child is not healthy. “Wanting to cut off this money from parents is an unworthy attempt to push through anti-social austerity measures where the system is already on edge and it is mainly women who have to suffer the negative consequences,” said Güngör. She called for the current number of children's sick days to be permanently secured.