Do I need a doctor's note for sick leave?

1. Choose the country where you work.
2. Enter the first day you were off sick.
3. Add your last day off, or type a number of calendar or working days.
4. Read the result: whether self certification still covers you, or a doctor's note is due.
5. Check the deadline line and the date the rule was last checked under the result.

Across the 42 countries, the rules fall into a few patterns. This summary is based on official government guidance. The full country tables follow further down.

For the 11 countries in the last row, the tool says so plainly: “We could not confirm the rule for this country. Ask your employer or check your contract.” It still shows how to report sick where that rule is known.

This matters more than people expect. Say you fall ill on a Thursday and feel better by the next Tuesday. That is only three working days, but it is six calendar days.

A few countries count working days instead. Luxembourg’s 2 day rule uses working days, and Slovenia assesses your sick leave from the first working day of absence. In Denmark, Sundays and public holidays are not counted for the second day rule.

The tool asks for your first sick day for this reason. If you enter working days, it converts them into calendar days and shows both numbers.

Public holidays are not yet built into the working day count. If a holiday falls inside your absence, enter your first and last sick days instead, so every calendar day is counted.

Self certification is agreed between you and your employer. It might be a form, or an email with the dates and a short reason. The 7 days include weekends and bank holidays.

For statutory sick pay, you must tell your employer by the deadline they set. If they have not set one, the official guidance says within 7 days. Missing it could cost you some sick pay.

Ask your employer how they want to hear from you. Some use a phone call to a manager, others an HR system or an email address. If they need it in writing, you can use form SC2.

• Estimate your statutory sick pay

Your employer is allowed to ask for a certificate from the first day of sickness. Many contracts do exactly that, so read yours.

You must also tell your employer right away that you cannot work and how long it is likely to last. For people with statutory health insurance, the doctor sends the certificate electronically, known as the eAU.

With the eAU, your employer collects the certificate from your health insurer. You no longer hand over paper, but you still have to report your absence yourself. The employer does not see a diagnosis. Privately insured employees may still need to hand over a paper certificate.

France.The official guidance describes the doctor’s sick leave form, the arrêt de travail, as the proof. You must tell your employer without delay. If your agreements set no deadline, the usual practice is within 48 hours.

You also have 48 hours to inform your health insurance fund, the CPAM or MSA. If the doctor sends the form online, the fund receives its parts directly. You then send the employer’s part yourself. Sending late can cut your daily allowances.

Austria.You must inform your employer without undue delay once you are too ill to work. Your employer may ask for a doctor’s confirmation from the first day. Many collective agreements only require it from the fourth day.

Sweden.You contact your employer on the first day you stay home. If you are sick for more than 7 calendar days, you must show a certificate from a doctor or dentist. A nurse’s certificate is not accepted for this.

Your employer does not have to pay sick pay for time before you reported sick, unless something prevented you from reporting.

Watch out if you fall ill again soon after going back. If it happens within 5 days of returning, you report the sickness to Försäkringskassan yourself on the first day. A new doctor’s certificate is then needed from sick day 8.

Belgium. You can skip the certificate for the first day of sickness up to three times per calendar year. This covers a one day absence and the first day of a longer one.

Firms with fewer than 50 workers can opt out, but only through an explicit collective agreement or work rules. Even when the exemption applies, you must tell your employer at once. A certificate is needed only when a collective agreement, the work rules or your employer requires one. If so, it is due within 2 working days unless the rules say otherwise.

Portugal. You can request a self declaration of illness through SNS 24 for short absences. Each one covers up to 3 consecutive days, and you can use two per calendar year. You must request it within 5 days of your first day off sick.

Beyond that, your employer may ask for proof of illness within 15 days of being told. Proof can be a declaration from a hospital or health centre, or a medical certificate.

Ireland. To get statutory sick pay, a medical practitioner must certify that you cannot work. The official guidance says you should be certified from day 1 of your sick leave.

A certificate also protects your holidays in Ireland. Sick days covered by a medical certificate are not counted as annual leave, and your employer cannot insist you use annual leave for them. You keep building up annual leave while certified sick.

Norway. Once you have worked for your employer for at least two months, you can use self certification, called egenmelding. The minimum scheme allows up to 3 calendar days at a time, up to 4 times in 12 months. Employers can extend it up to 16 days.

Tell your employer as soon as possible, in the way its routine asks. Self certification cannot be combined with a partial sick note.

Denmark.Report sick as soon as possible, and no later than 2 hours after your working time starts, unless a staff circular sets another deadline. Your employer cannot ask for a written sick report before the second day of absence. It can ask for a doctor’s statement at any point, and it pays for that statement.

Finland. Tell your supervisor yourself as soon as you know your sick leave is starting. Your supervisor decides whether a medical certificate is needed from the first day or only from the fourth day.

Where a cell says “Ask your employer”, we could not confirm that rule. Your contract, staff handbook or collective agreement may also set stricter rules than these. For pay and longer absences, see the full sick leave rules for each country.

“None found” means official guidance points to a doctor’s certificate from the first day, with no self certification period. In Romania, we could confirm a deadline only on an older version of the law, so we leave it out here.

Where the tool has no confirmed notification rule, it says “Ask your employer how and when to report sick.” That applies to 17 of the 42 countries, including Ireland, Spain, Greece and the Baltic states.

Two details are easy to miss. In Italy, if the doctor has to issue a paper certificate, you send your employer a copy within two days of issue. That copy leaves out the diagnosis.

In Poland, the automatic electronic note does not replace your duty to report. Your workplace rules set the form, which can be a call, an email, a text or a letter.

Germany, Austria and Luxembourg allow an employer to ask for a certificate from the first day. In Switzerland, contracts often require one from the third or fourth day. In Sweden, some collective agreements set different rules on when a certificate can be required.

This is why every result in the tool ends with the same caveat. Your employment contract, staff handbook or collective agreement can require a note earlier than the law does. Read those first, or ask HR.

Missing a deadline rarely ends well, though the effect differs by country. These are the consequences set out in official guidance:

If something stopped you from reporting, such as being too ill to call, report as soon as the obstacle ends. Swedish, Polish and Serbian rules allow for this. Keep any proof of why you could not report sooner.

The safest habit is easy to follow. Tell your employer on the first morning, say how long you expect to be off, and ask what proof they want.

German electronic certificates pass no diagnosis to the employer. Swiss certificates must not contain a diagnosis. Italian paper copies sent to an employer must leave the diagnosis out. In the Netherlands, your employer may not ask about your illness; only the company doctor may.

If your absence runs longer than the note says, plan for a new one. German law states this directly: a longer incapacity needs a new certificate. In Malta, certificates must be renewed every 2 weeks once sickness lasts longer than 14 days.

• What a valid certificate contains
• See a sample certificate

You fall ill on Thursday 8 October 2026 and stay off until Friday 16 October 2026. That is 7 working days and 9 calendar days.

Now change one input. If you are back at work on Tuesday 13 October instead, you were off Thursday to Monday. That is 5 calendar days and 3 working days. The UK and Sweden results switch to self certification. Germany still needs a certificate, because 5 is more than 3. Luxembourg still needs one, because 3 working days is more than 2.

If you work in Bulgaria, the tool gives the same answer for any number of days: “We could not confirm the rule for this country. Ask your employer or check your contract.”

Contact a doctor soon if a fever lasts more than a few days, if you keep getting worse, or if you feel unsafe at home. Pregnancy with pain or bleeding also needs urgent care.

A sick leave certificate costs EUR 34.99, with no added fees at checkout. Approved certificates arrive as a signed PDF, usually within about 30 minutes of the doctor’s approval. Each one has a reference code anyone can check.

We cover 42 countries in Europe, and certificates are issued in English. The doctor decides in every case, and we never backdate.