Pandemic Prevention: Back-to-Office & Employment Law

For many employees, working from home and avoiding social contact have so far been the main solution to protect against infection with COVID-19. However, for various private or business reasons, not all employees can or want to continue working from home. In a survey of more than 660 employees, 63% of respondents wanted to return to their usual workplace quickly - either once a week or completely (Gründerszene, 2020). For many employees, this represents an important step back to normality. The remaining 37% of employees still consider the risk of infection to be too great and would still prefer to work from home. However, if this is not explicitly agreed otherwise in the employment contract, employers may use their right to issue instructions to require these employees to return to the office to perform their work (Scheppe, 2020). Sustainable back-to-office initiatives are therefore the order of the day for many companies. Of course, this raises legal issues, which we would like to discuss here:

Risk groups and fear of infection - What applies in the employment relationship?

Even if work can be carried out from home, dismissing an employee who belongs to a risk group and does not want to return to the office would initially be "disproportionate" (Scheppe, 2020). However, there is currently no right for employees - including risk groups - to stay at home preventively if they are afraid of contracting COVID-19 despite the protective measures taken by the employer. If the employee stubbornly refuses to do so, the employer can threaten to dismiss them (Croset, 2020).

COVID protective measures in the workplace - What does the Ministry of Labor require employers to do?

1. It must be possible to maintain a minimum distance of 1.50 meters.

2. Regular ventilation of the workplace reduces the number of pathogens.

3. Hygiene measures such as soap, disinfectants, towel dispensers and sufficient cleaning of the shared areas of the workplace must be implemented.

4. Care should be taken to avoid queues throughout the workplace and canteen area. To minimize these, the implementation of Scan-it can help to minimize them.

5. Face-to-face meetings should be reduced to the bare minimum and face masks should be provided and worn in unavoidable personal contact with others.

6. Free room capacities must be used and work organized in such a way that multiple occupancy of rooms can be avoided or sufficient safety distances are provided. You can read about how employers can put this into practice using digitalization solutions here and here.

These precautions are guidelines of the SARS-CoV-2 occupational health and safety standard of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. If these are not wanted or cannot be fulfilled by the employer, employees are not obliged to return to the office (Scheppe, 2020). The consequences under labor law for companies and businesses that have triggered cases of illness in the workplace due to inadequate or non-compliance with COVID protection measures and thus endanger the occupational safety and health of employees are still under legal research.

Building digitization

The implementation of building digitization for companies and businesses is a current and future topic, especially when it comes to maintaining occupational health and safety. In order to maintain a productive working day despite pandemic-related risks, in which employees can carry out their work unhindered by mental and health stress, Thing-it supports a safe and sustainable COVID working environment on a broad customer basis.

Bibliography

Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. (2020, April 16). SARS-CoV-2 occupational health and safety standard. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://www.bmas.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/PDF-Schwerpunkte/sars-cov-2-arbeitsschutzstandard.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1

Croset, P. (2020, June 9). Can my boss force me to return to the office? Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://www.gruenderszene.de/karriere/zurueck-ins-buero-faq

German Trade Union Confederation. (2020, June 3). Corona: Occupational health and safety measures in the workplace. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://www.dgb.de/themen/++co++42d66872-6cf9-11ea-b9de-52540088cada

Start-up scene. (2020, June 15). Reader survey: Every fifth team is back in the office despite Corona. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://www.gruenderszene.de/perspektive/leserumfrage-buero-corona

Scheppe, M. (2020, June 25). Do you have to go back to the office now? - This is what labor law says. Retrieved August 18, 2020, from https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/beruf-und-buero/buero-special/corona-pandemie-muss-man-jetzt-zurueck-ins-buero-das-sagt-das-arbeitsrecht/25949166.html?ticket=ST-10027473-JY0IekLGeNFtvX67eMoM-ap5