Debate about continued payment of wages: Ver.di against “mandatory vaccination through back door”

The unions criticize plans by the federal states to stop paying unvaccinated people in quarantine. Ver.di fears that the unvaccinated will be disadvantaged. The DGB complains that labor law consequences are not considered.

The service union ver.di has criticized the plans of many federal states to end the wage replacement payments for unvaccinated people in quarantine. From the union’s point of view, it is wrong to try to “introduce compulsory vaccinations through the back door,” said union leader Frank Werneke to the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The policy says that vaccination should remain voluntary.”

The debate triggered by employers’ associations and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn on the cancellation of the compensation is counterproductive, said the ver.di chairman. This shifts the conflicts to companies and workforces and creates uncertainty. According to Werneke, the DGB and its member unions have played an active part in accelerating the vaccination rate in Germany for months. “Employers are now called upon to emphatically advertise vaccinations and enable them during working hours,” said Werneke.

DGB chairman Reiner Hoffmann also criticized the plans of many federal states to soon stop paying unvaccinated people compensation for loss of earnings if they have to be quarantined. On Deutschlandfunk he said that if in doubt, health data would also have to be disclosed here. Many labor law consequences would not be considered. It is a requirement of solidarity to get vaccinated, but not with the instrument of removing the compensation.

The federal and state governments are looking for a common line

In the dispute over compensation for loss of earnings of unvaccinated people who have to go into quarantine, the federal and state governments want to submit a joint regulation. “We are trying to find a common line with the federal states in terms of wage replacement benefits,” said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn of the “Rheinische Post”. Accordingly, the health ministers of the federal states wanted to reach an overarching agreement.

The new regulation concerns a passage in the Infection Protection Act. According to this, people who have to be in domestic isolation on official orders, who are unable to work and no longer receive wages, receive state compensation in the amount of the loss of earnings. According to the law, no compensation will be given to anyone who could have avoided the failure by taking a recommended vaccination. So far, payments have been made in these cases anyway – not least because not enough corona vaccine was available in the past.

No continued payment in some federal states

However, some federal states have now decided to end wage replacement benefits – or are considering doing so. The continued payment of wages in the event of illness is independent of this. The Prime Minister of Hesse, Volker Bouffier, campaigned for a nationwide regulation. It must be clear: “There is only compensation if it was unavoidable for the person concerned,” he told the “Handelsblatt”. However, such a new regulation should “not be rushed”.

In the public area, where access is necessary for everyone, according to Bouffier, a rapid test for unvaccinated people will no longer be sufficient in the future. He assumed that “a PCR test will be necessary,” said the CDU politician to the “Handelsblatt”. In addition, he thinks it is right for private companies to deny unvaccinated people access to a shop. “If you don’t get vaccinated, you have to accept that.”

Bavaria’s Minister of Health, Klaus Holetschek, spoke out in favor of a nationwide suspension of wage replacement benefits. “One thing is clear: everyone can be vaccinated, nobody has to,” said the chairman of the conference of health ministers to the “editorial network Germany”. However, anyone who consciously decides not to have a vaccination, although there is nothing medically against it, is acting in a disagreeable manner. Then he could not demand any compensation from the solidarity community.

End of continued payment of wages is legally controversial

The possible elimination of wage replacement benefits for unvaccinated people is controversial among lawyers. The Berlin constitutional lawyer Christian Pestalozza told the “Handelsblatt” that he considered such an approach to be feasible. However, people who have not been vaccinated must be given sufficient time to be vaccinated. “Without such a transitional arrangement, the sanction would have an inadmissible retroactive effect,” said Pestalozza. There should also be no medical reasons against vaccination for those affected.

The Leipzig constitutional lawyer Christoph Degenhardt, on the other hand, does not consider a stop to quarantine compensation to be generally permissible. In his opinion, this would only be possible if unvaccinated people consciously go to a corona hotspot. As an example, the lawyer named trips to a corona high incidence area in the “Handelsblatt”.