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To ask or not to ask?
Information on the vaccination status of employees is sensitive
Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
Whether applicants or already employed - information about health is sensitive and cannot simply be queried by the boss.
This is how it is regulated by labor law.
But since the corona crisis there have been voices calling for deviations in order to contain the pandemic.
In view of rising incidences, the Federal Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises is now demanding that employers be able to query the vaccination status of their employees.
Federal Managing Director Markus Jerger told the dpa news agency that the 3G rule is already a reality in many companies: “There is still uncertainty as to whether employers are allowed to inquire about the vaccination status of their employees.
A legally regulated request for inquiries by employers would create the urgently required legal certainty here. "
The federal government must quickly provide clarity. "It is crucial that the business processes in the companies that are suffering from the consequences of the pandemic and lockdown are not disrupted or even come to a standstill," said Jerger. The federal manager also appealed to employees to be vaccinated or tested regularly: "Another lockdown, even if it were only regionally limited, could mean the end for the companies concerned."
Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), also called on the federal and state governments to do significantly more against the rapidly increasing number of new corona infections.
"Politicians are threatening to make the same mistake as they did in the autumn of last year, when politicians shied away from consistent and centrally effective measures," said Russwurm.
He made it clear that an option could also be a 3G rule in the workplace.
Corona occupational health and safety
ordinance
linked
to
epidemic
situation
The Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance obliges companies to provide masks and test offers, for example.
The federal government last changed the ordinance on September 10th.
Since then, employers have been supposed to inform their employees about corona vaccinations and release them to attend vaccination appointments.
The verification of the vaccination status was not stipulated in the change in September.
In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance is linked to the epidemic situation, which, according to the plans of the Executive Minister of Health Jens Spahn, is to expire on November 26th.
Last week the SPD, Greens and FDP proposed to amend the Infection Protection Act so that certain corona measures can continue to apply without the continuation of the measures that expired at the end of November (read an analysis here).
This includes the mask requirement, the 3G and 2G rules and distance requirements.
According to the will of the SPD, Greens and FDP, the corresponding transitional regulation is to be decided by the Bundestag and Bundesrat in November.
atb / dpa
