Saturday, April 03, 2021
“Declaration of no confidence” to companies
Employers oppose compulsory testing
From Marina Zapf
The union and politicians agree: employers have an obligation to use rapid tests to make workplaces safer in their companies. However, there are still no clear rules for this.
Even after year one of the corona pandemic, it remains unclear what role the workplace plays in the infection process with Covid-19. Headline-grabbing hotspots such as large meat companies in the past are not representative, argues the employers’ side. The German Trade Union Federation (DGB) calls for a nationwide obligation for companies to offer their employees free corona tests. “The self-commitment alone is not enough,” says DGB boss Reiner Hoffmann.
Since rapid tests have become available in large numbers, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in particular saw a basis for thinking out loud about compulsory operational testing. Chancellor Angela Merkel was also dissatisfied with the company’s commitment to date. A sharper announcement from the federal and state governments has so far failed to materialize. But the central associations are in defense mode – such tests are always a cost factor – for material, organization and working time.
Indeed appealed the central associations of the economy As a precautionary measure, already on March 9th to offer companies, their employees self-tests, and “where possible”, more complex rapid tests in order to detect infections at an early stage. There were also lists of available and approved self and antigen rapid tests that are certainly available in sufficient quantities. After Merkel’s interjection, however, several business representatives reacted quite disgustingly. The managing director of the Federal Association of German Employers’ Associations (BDA), Steffen Kampeter, criticized the politicians for wanting to “undertake a substitute act on the company in order to demonstrate the ability to act”.
Similarly, the employer-related Institute of German Economy (IW) rejected a duty as a vote of no confidence in the hygiene and protection concepts of the companies. If politics in the fight against pandemic lose the trust of the voters, wrote IW director Michael Hüther angrily, it does not help much to react “with declarations of no confidence in companies”. Because these have been delivering for a long time, as the IW emphasizes. Almost every second company is already testing its workforce or is planning to start soon, it said.
Numbers only tell half the story
If you see them Survey by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) from March but a little more precisely, the execution is much less advanced than it initially appears. In large companies with more than 1000 employees, the quota of employers testing is probably 40 percent. But on average of the 8,000 companies surveyed, 19 percent are currently testing their workforces, and another 28 percent wanted to start testing soon. However, many say that they do not yet have sufficient information.
The test question is seen as superfluous in around a third of the companies: According to the survey, 23 percent work completely from the home office, nine percent would have closed anyway – especially in the catering, travel, cultural and creative industries – because of the lockdown. However, the inertia in the workplaces is still very pronounced, as the Munich Ifo Institute has established.
Oliver Falck, head of the Ifo Center for New Technologies, says there is “a lot of room for improvement” when working from home. At the end of March, 31.7 percent of employees in German companies were working partly or completely at home. In February it was 30.3 percent. For service providers, the rate is at least 42.6 percent. But: “We estimate the potential for home office to be 56 percent of the workforce,” says Falck. It could be used much more as a means of social distancing. “At the same time, the comparatively low rate shows how important consistent tests are in the workplace.”
The IG Metall boss finds it “unbelievable” that there has not yet been a reliable survey of the risk of infection with the coronavirus at work in Germany. Jörg Hofmann sees the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as obliged to finally create an assessment basis.
Everyone does what he wants
In fact, the incidence rate of those in employment between the ages of 15 and 60 is slightly above the population average. The Institute of German Economy admits that too. However, according to the IW, the figures did not show whether those affected were infected at work, on their way to work or in their private lives. The number of sick leave in 2020 – according to the result of a sample of the company health insurance funds – remained stable compared to 2019. So the sick leave does not indicate an increased risk of infection for employees.
Rapid tests are still a target definition by the federal and state governments: Companies in Germany should contribute to the fight against the pandemic as a whole, “reduce the risk of infection by offering regular tests to those employees who are in attendance,” according to the recommendation. “The resolutions announced by the MPK do not exist, so that now everyone does what they want, or simply makes their own decisions, as some health authorities do,” criticizes IW Director Hüther.
The state of Saxony adjusted its Corona Protection Ordinance at the beginning of March and mandated its companies to test. Employees who are present at their workplace should receive a test offer at least once a week. It will also be mandatory for employees and the self-employed with direct customer contact.
The Berlin Senate carried out its announcement shortly before Easter and decided that companies should be tested. The obligation to offer exists for all employers: inside, it was said that all employees who are not in the home office, at least twice a week, enable and pay for a quick test. Self-tests should take place under supervision.
Questionable effect?
It is controversial whether an extended test radius also has the desired effect. The IW warns that it could only have a resounding effect if tracking would also become faster and easier – for example using a functioning tracing app. In addition, a higher degree of follow-up also depends on reporting practice. The results of self-tests do not have to be documented or reported. On the other hand, rapid tests in companies, which are carried out by trained staff like in test centers, are followed by a certificate and – if positive – a report to the health department.
How employees should behave towards their employer according to BDA clear, as they have a duty of consideration towards colleagues. So every person who tested positive has to inform the employer, it says with reference to the Infection Protection Act. The can also query results. It is recommended that companies obtain declarations of consent from employees for the tests as part of a test concept and document positive results.
A company can order rapid tests in special hazardous situations. Otherwise, however, in principle it represents an encroachment on the employee’s personal rights and physical integrity. In case of doubt, the question of authority must be clarified in a works agreement with the works council. In any case, the implementation is subject to co-determination, as it is about occupational health protection, say experts. Even highly sensitive health data could only be collected and processed with the consent of the employee.
Incidentally, according to the RKI, a positive result with an antigen self-test initially only represents a suspicion of a Sars-CoV-2 infection. Only through a subsequent PCR test for confirmation can colleagues become “contact persons” and must be contacted by the employer Quarantine.
The article first appeared at Capital.de
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