Only optional rule planned
FDP talks Heil out of the home office requirement
8/31/2022 1:03 am
Minister of Labor Heil actually wants to oblige employers to offer the opportunity to work from home again in the fall. But according to a report, this is failing due to resistance from the FDP. The obligation to provide corona tests at the workplace is also likely to be cancelled.
Contrary to previous plans, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil now wants to forego a return to the home office offer obligation. In a draft of the Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance available to the Reuters news agency, the project originally planned from October to an optional regulation is toned down.
The SPD politician also drops the plan planned in an earlier draft to oblige employers to make a test offer twice a week to everyone who works on site. This is now toned down to a test job. In coalition circles it was said that stricter regulations had failed because of the FDP.
The government intends to approve the draft at the cabinet meeting in Meseberg on Wednesday. Companies should therefore create hygiene concepts to protect against infections. “In addition to measures to implement the AHA+L rule and wearing protective masks, this can also include reducing operational personal contact, for example by reducing the simultaneous use of rooms and by offering employees the opportunity to work from home,” says the new draft.
BDA opposed the obligation to make an offer
An earlier version said: “The employer must offer employees the opportunity to carry out suitable activities in their home if there are no compelling operational reasons to the contrary.” Regarding quick tests at the workplace, it is now said that employers should check the offer to employees to test themselves regularly free of charge.
The regulation is scheduled to come into force on October 1 and expire on April 7, 2023. A home office offer obligation imposed during the corona pandemic expired in March. The BDA umbrella organization of employers had sharply criticized a return to the obligation to offer.