No more loss of earnings for unvaccinated people from October 11th

A second draft resolution provides for mandatory testing for unvaccinated employees and self-employed in certain industries. Due to the discrepancy “between a legally binding 3G verification requirement in public traffic on the one hand and a mere obligation of employers to make an offer on the other hand, an urgent need for action is seen,” the paper says. In view of the infection situation, the rule should be introduced where employees come into direct contact with “external persons”.

Several federal states such as Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia had already pushed ahead with a regulation of loss of earnings in the past few days. Employers receive compensation from the state if employees were unable to work because of an ordered quarantine.

Those who continue to pay cannot expect a refund

A Handelsblatt survey among all federal states has shown that more than 560 million euros have already been paid out by the states due to the regulation. North Rhine-Westphalia alone approved funds amounting to 120 million euros, Bavaria 83 million, Baden-Württemberg 77 million, Lower Saxony 72.1 million and Hesse 52.9 million euros.

Employers are obliged to make advance payments if they are entitled to compensation – that is, to pay the salary regularly, to pay the social security contributions and to apply for reimbursement from the competent authority. In the Infection Protection Act, however, there are exceptions to this rule, which should now be applied uniformly.

Specifically, there is no entitlement to compensation if the quarantine could have been avoided by vaccination. The same applies to an “avoidable trip” to a corona risk area with high numbers of infections abroad, which results in isolation.

If employers continue to pay salaries in these cases in the future, they can no longer count on a reimbursement. In order to make a decision, the federal states require the employer to provide information on the reason for the employee’s isolation – such as a positive test, a contact person or entry into the country – as well as knowledge of the vaccination status.

The planned new regulation increases the pressure on those who refuse to be vaccinated

If an employee is not vaccinated, the authorities need information about whether there is a medical reason – a so-called contraindication – that speaks against a vaccination. Baden-Württemberg, for example, where the rule is already being implemented, indicates on request that the authorities will approach the employee in this case and request a certificate.

The cessation of continued wages is clearly derived from Paragraph 56 of the Infection Protection Act, says the director of the Institute for Labor Law and Social Security Law at the University of Bonn, Gregor Thüsing: “I don’t see any scope at all to keep it, and that some Prime Ministers still do Seeing differently is not legally explainable to me. “

So far, the exclusion of claims has not come into effect because it has not yet been possible to assume that everyone had the opportunity to be fully immunized. “This will be different in the future because of the wide availability of vaccines, and this justifies the exclusion of claims,” ​​says Thüsing.

The new regulation increases the pressure on those who have not been vaccinated – the social debate is correspondingly controversial. “It is right that the health ministers want to take a uniform path, because comprehensible, national regulations lead to greater acceptance of the corona policy in the population,” said the Green health expert Janosch Dahmen to the Handelsblatt. “However, uniformity is not an end in itself, the nationwide regulations must also be practical and clearly beneficial in fighting pandemics.”

The advance of the health ministers would lack many answers in terms of practical implementation. “It would be much more effective if the 3G rule were binding everywhere in the workplace,” said Dahmen.

Handelsblatt survey shows: Many would keep quiet about quarantine

“We have to prevent unvaccinated employees from being tested for fear of quarantine orders, otherwise a covert pandemic could arise.” A Handelsblatt survey had shown that almost half of all unvaccinated people withhold a quarantine order from their employer would.

The social association VdK, however, rejected the plans. “The loss of earnings must be paid in a quarantine regardless of the vaccination status,” said VdK President Verena Bentele. She pointed out that there is rightly no general compulsory vaccination. So it shouldn’t have any “existence-threatening consequences” if, for example, the chronically ill decided against a vaccination because the effects of a vaccination on their health cannot yet be assessed. Especially people with poor health and poor people would be hit hard by the cancellation of the loss of earnings, warned Bentele and called for a uniform regulation.

The chairman of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), Reiner Hoffmann, sharply criticized the decision of the federal states rushing ahead on Deutschlandfunk and spoke of a “mandatory vaccination through the back door”. In his view, the conflict about compulsory corona vaccination will be shifted to employees and companies – with massive consequences under labor law.

In case of doubt, sensitive health data would also have to be disclosed here as to why employees could not have themselves vaccinated, Hoffmann said on Deutschlandfunk. It is a rule of solidarity to be vaccinated, but not with the instrument of canceling the compensation. Verdi boss Frank Werneke told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “Politics says that vaccination should remain voluntary.”

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