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Whether the holiday is gone if an employee has to go into quarantine is now decided in Luxembourg (symbol image)
Photo: Justin Paget/Getty Images
The dispute over whether vacation leave that has already been approved must be credited in the event of a sudden corona quarantine will now concern the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The Federal Labor Court in Erfurt involved the judges in Luxembourg (file number: 9 AZR 76/22).
The case of a locksmith from North Rhine-Westphalia who lost eight vacation days was negotiated.
It was about whether vacation days expired in the case of an ordered domestic quarantine or isolation without sick leave or whether they could be made up for later.
Before making their judgment, the highest German labor judges want to have aspects of European law clarified first.
German labor courts, most recently the Higher Labor Court in Hamm, ruled to the contrary on this issue.
So far, vacation has only been granted with a certificate of incapacity for work
The reason for this is a loophole in the regulations: The Federal Holidays Act stipulates that days of holiday can only be credited if there is a doctor's sick note.
There is no legal regulation for corona quarantine, as is currently required for returnees from virus variant areas, or corona isolation.
It is about the employees who have no symptoms of illness and therefore no medical certificate.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, an average of around ten percent of people who tested positive for the corona virus were symptom-free in August.
flg/dpa
