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Working from home: in cramped circumstances with children in quarantine?
Photo: MoMo Productions/Getty Images
The corona numbers in Germany are increasing.
And with it the likelihood that you will be classified as a contact person and may have to be quarantined at home.
But what does that mean for employees in concrete terms?
Do they also have to work during a quarantine?
With this question, it must first be clarified whether there is an obligation to work from home, says Johannes Schipp, specialist lawyer for labor law in Gütersloh.
»If, for example, I also work from home, a quarantine will not change that.«
Others, on the other hand, usually do not work from home, for example because they work in the service of a restaurant or in a craft business.
"You won't always have to work from home here," says Schipp.
Is it possible to work from home?
According to the specialist lawyer, it must be checked under what conditions working from home is possible and which legitimate concerns of its employees an employer must address.
As an example, he cites the case of a worker quarantined in cramped circumstances with his wife and children.
On the other hand, if you have a quiet study, you may have to take on tasks that your employer assigns to you during quarantine at home.
Which activities come into question here depends on how much they have to do with the contractually owed work performance of the employee.
Not all assignments are allowed
If, for example, certain documentation obligations are part of the tasks of a kindergarten teacher, her employer can demand that she also do this from home during quarantine.
A locksmith, on the other hand, cannot usually be obliged to sort invoices in the home office.
"That has nothing to do with the contractually owed activity," Schipp clarifies.
In principle, however, the following applies: Anyone who shows symptoms of corona disease during the quarantine and is therefore unable to work does not have to work.
flg/dpa