Like another sibling said, it's not really that different in the US, since in the US you also use sick days for a while (not six weeks though) and progress to d

Like another sibling said, it's not really that different in the US, since in the US you also use sick days for a while (not six weeks though) and progress to disability. In Germany it's just more structured. There's multiple special rules, like the employee must be working at the company for a while, it has different rules for companies with fewer employees, companies can't be in an emergency situation, there might be the possibility tax rebates. This is mostly handled by careful accounting. You need to provision future money for it rather than living in a reverse "paycheck to paycheck" situation. I never had a German company but I had a company in a country with similar arrangements and my accountant made me learn it all. It also has the side effect of having businesses to care about employee quality of life. Someone working 12 hours a day will probably burn out quickly.