Corona rules: 3G at work and home office: What is planned

The new 3G rule in the workplace is becoming more and more concrete. It has consequences especially for those who have not been vaccinated. The goal: The risk of the coronavirus spreading in companies is to be reduced.

In the course of changes to the Infection Protection Act, significant new regulations are planned.

What will employees have to submit in the future?

In future, employees should only be given access to a company if they have been vaccinated, recovered or have recently been tested. Vaccinated and convalescent persons must provide appropriate documents to prove this – for example, the yellow vaccination certificate, the vaccination certificate via an app or a proof of recovery.

Unvaccinated and unrecognized employees who cannot or do not want to work from home must, according to the draft of the parliamentary groups of the SPD, Greens and FDP, present a negative rapid test result to the employer every 24 hours. The employee should be responsible for getting the test certificate – for example by taking a citizen test before starting work.

Peter Meyer, specialist lawyer for labor law, also thinks it is conceivable that employees will take a quick test in front of the employer. Larger employers could open their own test centers for employees. PCR test results have a longer half-life – they must be refreshed every 48 hours by design.

The 3G rule at work is to apply until March 19, 2022, and the Bundestag, like other measures, should be able to extend it by a maximum of three months.

What is the role of the employer?

Business associations had demanded that employers should be able to query the vaccination status of their employees – otherwise a 3G rule would make no sense. According to SPD parliamentary deputy Dirk Wiese, such a right is planned. He said on Monday: “We will regulate that employers and employees are only allowed to enter a workplace where personal contact is not excluded with proof of vaccination, recovery or test. The employer can and must of course inquire about this. “

Employer President Rainer Dulger explained: “The fact that employers will be able to query and save the vaccination status of their employees in the future is an important prerequisite for ensuring effective and targeted in-house health protection.”

The German Trade Union Confederation is actually very skeptical of employers’ right to information. Markus Hofmann from the DGB said at a hearing in the Bundestag that the data should only be stored for a very short time and for no other purpose.

According to the draft, employers should be obliged to monitor and document the 3G rule through verification checks. Roland Wolf, department head at the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, said it was questionable whether it makes sense to carry out tests for employees to the day for the entire workforce. In this context, he referred to Austria, where employers only checked on a random basis.

What happens in the event of a violation?

That is still open. On Monday, according to reports, discussions between the traffic light groups and the executive government were still ongoing on the issue of sanctions. Time is of the essence, because on Thursday the Bundestag should approve all changes to the Infection Protection Act.

So far, the draft states that in order to emphasize the importance of the evidence of 3G status and so that the obligation can be effectively implemented, an offense should be added – if employees do not have evidence with them when they come to work. It is also unclear what happens if employers cannot produce the necessary documents during inspections. You could face fines under certain circumstances.

The other question is labor law consequences. “Anyone who does not show up for work for reasons for which they are responsible has not yet been able to claim any wages for the work they have lost,” said Dulger. “Otherwise there is a real risk of imbalance if people who refuse to have tests and vaccinations are rewarded with paid leave.”

Because a refusal to provide evidence could be interpreted as a breach of duty, attorney Meyer believes it is conceivable that employees will be warned. In the event of repetition, there could even be a risk of dismissal.

What is planned for the home office?

In addition to the 3G rule, home office should be compulsory: as many employees as possible should work at home and thus avoid contacts if there are “no compelling operational reasons”, as stated in the draft. Such reasons could exist if the operational processes would otherwise be significantly restricted or could not be maintained at all – for example counter services for necessary customer and employee contacts or repair and maintenance tasks.

For their part, the employees have to accept an offer from the employer, provided there are no reasons to the contrary. The DGB insists that nobody should be forced to work in the home office. In addition to the home office regulation and 3G at the workplace, the 3G rule in buses and trains is planned as an additional measure.