Anyone who is ill receives continued payment of their salary in Germany — right? The typical lawyer's answer to this question is: It depends. Because in connection with the coronavirus, various scenarios have arisen in which employers simply do not continue to pay their employees the salary as usual.
In this article, you can find out when your employees are entitled to continued payment of their wages — and when they are not. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about quarantine, pay and general questions about employment law.
Off to the home office
If workers test positive for the virus, the health department will definitely order a ten-day isolation — even if there are no symptoms. In this case, you should first check whether the work can also be carried out in the home office. If this is the case, your employee can work from home as usual and will of course also receive normal pay. In this scenario, it doesn't matter whether the worker has been vaccinated, recovered, or neither.
Isolation or quarantine?
The Infection Protection Act distinguishes between isolation and quarantine. Isolation is ordered when an infection with COVID-19 has been confirmed by a PCR test. Quarantine does not require any infection or symptoms. It is usually prescribed for contact persons of patients or after returning from a high-risk area. Quarantine can be ordered by the authorities as well as voluntary.
Avoidable insulation
But what if working from home is out of the question? A distinction is made here between unvaccinated and vaccinated workers. Vaccinated people who have to go into isolation are entitled to continued payment of their wages. However, as an employer, you can claim back these costs — in Lower Saxony, the respective health authorities are your point of contact.
This claim does not apply to unvaccinated people whose (symptomless) infection could have been prevented. They are not entitled to pay. The same rule applies — including for vaccinated and recovered people — in the event of an officially ordered quarantine in a high-risk area. The list of high-risk areas It is long — it includes almost all districts of Austria, Italy, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Employees should therefore factor this risk into their vacation planning!
No continued payment of wages for the unvaccinated
Unvaccinated people who have to go into quarantine are also excluded from continued payment of wages. The health department can order this, for example, if...
- Relatives from the same household are ill and can show a positive PCR test
- the person is not wearing an FFP2 mask, does not keep minimum distances and has had contact with an infected person
- the person has been in a room with an infected person for more than 10 minutes (regardless of distance and masks worn correctly)
Your right to information as an employer
Around 73 percent of Germans are currently fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (as of January 2022). As an employer, you have the right to information about the vaccination status of your employees — after all, it depends on whether you can have the remuneration reimbursed by the health department. If employees refuse to provide information or are unvaccinated, they may withhold pay for missed working hours.
And if you are unable to work?
But what if employees not only have to go into isolation or quarantine, but also actually fall ill and are unable to work due to their symptoms? In this case, all employees must initially be treated equally: Anyone who is ill is entitled to continued payment of wages from the employer for six weeks; then he/she receives sickness benefit from the health insurance company as compensation payment.
Exceptions can only apply if the corona infection is demonstrably deliberate — for example as part of a “Corona party” to then achieve recovery status. An intentional infection amounts to a breach of duty to work — in this case, you do not have to continue paying your salary.
