SZ reader Jenny P. asks: After eight years, I quit my job as a medical assistant because I found better conditions elsewhere. Now my boss has paid out a corona bonus of 500 euros to all my colleagues – except for me, although I will still be working there until the end of the month. I perceive that as a screaming injustice and completely wrong on a human level. I was not sick for a day and received the highest praise when I said goodbye. Should i defend myself?
Ina Reinsch answers: Dear Ms. K., due to the Corona crisis, employers can grant their employees special payments of up to 1500 euros tax-free in the form of grants and benefits in kind. This regulation has now been extended to March 2022. The corona bonus is a basically voluntary service by the employer. There is also only one tax-free amount. Anyone who has already received 1,500 euros in 2020 cannot make use of this rule from their boss again. However, it is possible that employers split the bonus. He also has to pay the benefits in addition to the wages owed anyway. A conversion of remuneration is therefore excluded.
First and foremost, the bonus is intended for staff who are particularly challenged in the pandemic, i.e. for people like you who have made a lot of personal commitment in medical practices to ensure that patients continue to receive the best possible care. However, it does not only apply to systemically relevant professions, but can be granted regardless of the industry. However, a connection to the corona pandemic is important. The contractual agreement must therefore make it clear that it is a tax-free extra to alleviate the additional burden caused by the crisis.
In most cases, the employer explains to his employees in writing the commitment for which this voluntary, one-off fee is being paid on the occasion of the pandemic. Now the question arises for you, whether your boss can simply let you go empty-handed just because you quit. The boss may not like that, but it doesn’t change anything about your past engagement.
In the meantime, the first dishes are already dealing with the topic. In a decision by the Oldenburg Labor Court, for example, it was about the repayment of a corona bonus that had already been paid out. A daycare employee quit after the payment. It is true that everything revolved around the effectiveness of a repayment clause. However, the court also found that the payment of the bonus is intended to honor work that has already been done. The special payment was made due to the special circumstances of the corona pandemic. According to an objective consideration, the special burdens during the pandemic were recognized and compensated for and relate to a previous period.
Ina Reinsch is a lawyer, author and speaker in Munich. She mainly deals with the subject of labor law.
(Photo: Christoph Vohler)
It would therefore be contrary to the principle of equal treatment under labor law to exempt you from this special payment if you have done as much as the others. This principle prohibits the employer from treating individual employees arbitrarily, that is, objectively unfounded.
If the boss does not want to pay out the bonus to all employees or in different amounts, he must have factual and objectifiable reasons for this. As long as this is not the case, the employees in the practice must be treated equally. The premium is primarily intended to reward performance in the pandemic. It is unsuitable for an exclusive reward for loyalty to the company. Whether the latter can also be a partial aspect has not yet been clarified in court. In any case, the better arguments are on your side.