Thursday, November 18, 2021
Employers complain about effort
Heil defends 3G at work and at home
Employer representatives are open to a general 3G obligation in the workplace, but complain about the considerable effort involved. However, when it comes to the obligation to work from home, as demanded by Minister of Labor Heil, the fun stops. They testify to the “deep distrust of the government”.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil has emphasized the need for stricter rules in the workplace in view of the dramatically increasing corona numbers. In the world of work there should now only be 3G compulsory, said Heil in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. Home office must be available wherever this is possible. The Bundestag passed the rules on Thursday, but the approval of the Bundesrat on Friday was still uncertain.
It is therefore unclear whether the rules can come into force next week, as the traffic light parties would like. According to the Infection Protection Act, workplaces should then only be allowed to be entered by employers and employees who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested (3G). The employees should have to prove this. Rapid antigen tests should not be more than 24 hours old. The employers should be obliged to control this.
The economy welcomes the planned 3G obligation in the workplace. However, she fears that there will be considerable effort and refuses to accept any further costs. Crafts president Hans Peter Wollseifer told the “Welt” that the controls were impractical: “In the case of companies such as building cleaning or in the building trade, where most employees drive directly to the construction sites and then often to objects and work locations that change on a daily basis become extremely difficult. ” It is still completely unclear how these required daily controls “can be carried out pragmatically and verified,” said the President of the Central Association of German Crafts. Wollseifer asked for the question of costs to be clarified. So far, the companies are obliged to offer two tests per week. In the case of daily tests, the workers would “have to do three of the five tests that are free for them”, said the craftsman’s president.
The majority of Germans are required to work from home
According to a survey by the “Augsburger Allgemeine”, a clear majority of Germans (61 percent) approve of the reintroduction of the obligation to work from home, which expired at the end of June, in suitable professions. 28 percent reject such a state requirement, the rest are undecided.
The Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services (BGA) is critical of the reintroduction. “The past Corona months have shown us how flexible work can be done even without a so-called home office obligation. It would be better if the legislature let the companies do it easily,” explained General Manager Antonin Finkelnburg. Reinhold von Eben-Worlée, president of the family business association, also told the “Handelsblatt”: “I see this as a deep signal of distrust from the government regarding the responsibility of companies to protect their employees.” Due to sophisticated protection concepts, companies are not the drivers of infection in the pandemic and are currently expanding home offices as much as possible.
In addition to the new Corona rules, many larger companies in Germany want to offer their employees third-party vaccinations by their company doctors. This was the result of a survey by the “Handelsblatt” among selected Dax companies and family businesses. Anette Wahl-Wachendorf from the Presidium of the Association of Company Doctors told the newspaper: “Many colleagues are back in the starting blocks and want to give booster vaccinations.”