In a ruling dated October 13, 2021 (5 AZR 211/21), the Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) decided that employees are not entitled to wage payments if the employer has to temporarily close its business as a result of a government-imposed general “lockdown” to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.
On September 22, the Ministers of Health, together with the Federal Minister of Health, decided that persons who have not been vaccinated against COVID will no longer receive compensation payments as of November 1, 2021.
While the first European countries (e.g. Italy and France) are introducing regulations that (fully or largely) only allow employees who have been vaccinated or currently tested against COVID-19 to enter the workplace, such a regulation is not currently in sight in Germany, despite persistently high infection figures.
Many employers allow their employees to perform all or part of their work from the home office. The Corona pandemic has played a particularly large role in the current popularity of mobile working.
The summer vacation season attracts many travelers to popular destinations abroad, which may have been declared high-risk areas due to rising infection rates and the spread of the delta variant. We explain under which conditions employers are obliged to pay compensation in the event of an officially ordered quarantine or a Corona infection.
