“Labor law through ordinances is really tedious,” said Körber-Risak. Instead, there must be clarifications on the ability to work and occupational safety in labor law, among other things. “Every reasonable employer leaves Covid-positive people at home,” said the lawyer. In an ORF interview, Körber-Risak comments on the impact of the end of the mandatory quarantine announced by the federal government on the world of work:
If, as in the draft regulation, there are traffic restrictions and a mask requirement instead of quarantine for people infected with Covid, the employer must check that the corona-positive employee wears a mask in the company at all times and never takes it off. “If I don’t do that, then I can be held liable,” warned the labor lawyer. It is then about compensation and pain and suffering, should there be corona cases in business premises. If an employer does not take care of compliance with the envisaged mask requirement for Covid sufferers, then it even goes in the direction of criminal law. The ordinance will be officially presented at 4.30 p.m. in a press conference by Social and Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP).
“Today you will be served by a Covid-positive person”
According to Körber-Risak, in order to avoid liability when employing corona-positive employees, for example in the catering, hotel or retail sectors, the company would also have to communicate this to customers. According to the employment lawyer, this could read as follows: “Today you are being served by a Covid-positive person.”
Due to the lack of staff, some companies pushed for an end to the corona quarantine obligation in order to employ symptom-free employees, for example in tourism or in industry. “I think that’s extremely short-sighted. I wouldn’t advise this to an employer,” said the labor law expert.
ÖGB demands security for employees
The union calls for the safety of employees to be guaranteed in the new quarantine regulation. “Abolishing the quarantine regulation in the middle of the corona wave is anything but a good idea,” said the senior secretary of the ÖGB, Ingrid Reischl, in a broadcast on Tuesday afternoon. “If the quarantine really comes to an end, we are concerned that employers will put more pressure on employees to go to work with symptoms,” said the ÖGB on request.
If the isolation regulations are changed, the protection of particularly vulnerable groups must be guaranteed. “A rapid reintroduction of the so-called risk group regulation and the possibility of being released from work for pregnant women is therefore absolutely necessary,” according to the ÖGB. “The danger of catching Corona at work, for example in an open-plan office, is even greater. That must then also be considered an occupational disease, especially if you think of a severe course or Long Covid.”
For the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ), the quarantine adjustments must be “designed to be practical”. “Relaxing for symptom-free people can help to avoid staff shortages,” said the WKÖ to the APA. “In any case, from the point of view of the economy, clarifications are necessary with regard to the duty of care of companies and the protection of vulnerable groups.”
“Anyone who feels sick should stay at home”
The President of the Austrian Hotel Association (ÖHV), Walter Veit, welcomed the quarantine regulations that will come into effect in August as a relief for the tense personnel situation in tourism and as a “further step towards living with the virus”. “The current situation will not turn 180 degrees, but the elimination of the quarantine is one of the cogs that can be turned, which relieves the companies and the teams,” he said in a broadcast. It is clear that the following still applies: “Anyone who is ill and feels ill should stay at home and recover. There is no discussion there.” But there are enough people who are infected without symptoms, who are not missing anything and who would like to work. “Of course only under the necessary protective measures,” added Veit.
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No right to compensation
The trade association welcomes the end of the quarantine, but criticizes the omission of compensation in the event of Covid-related absences from symptomatic employees: In the draft ordinance, there are basically no isolations in the event of an infection with SARS-COV 2, only traffic restrictions in general. No distinction is made between symptomatic and symptom-free COVID-positive people.
As a result, even symptomatic COVID-positive people who, of course, cannot go to work, are only subject to traffic restrictions and no longer receive a special notice. “Without a notice of separation, the dealers are no longer entitled to compensation for the loss of earnings for separated employees,” emphasized the association. The federal government is transferring the burden of the corona failures to employers and is thus noticeably weakening retailers in the midst of the inflation crisis, according to a broadcast on Tuesday evening.
Source: Nachrichten
