Although there is no compulsory vaccination in Germany, some employers want to exempt vaccinators from work - without a salary.
Is this allowed?
A lawyer explains.
Employees in medical practices, hospitals and old people's homes
are among the first to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
However, the willingness to vaccinate among employees has so far been low.
In many places, employers want to "help out" and threaten vaccination refusals with
leave of absence without a salary
.
A lawyer reveals whether this is permitted under labor law.
The vaccinations against Covid-19 are in full swing, but the willingness to vaccinate among medical staff * and nurses has so far been low.
Although there is no compulsory vaccination in Germany, some employers now apparently want to "help" their employees' willingness to vaccinate.
No vaccination, no salary?
Employers threaten unpaid leave
A dentist from Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm in Bavaria recently made headlines.
In a message to his practice employees, he is said to have threatened: "All employees and dentists will be vaccinated against Corona.
Those who
do not want
the
vaccination are
released from work without a salary
”.
(Merkur.de reported on the case *).
The result: A shitstorm on the Internet, threats and legal mail - according to reports in the
Passauer Neue Presse (PNP)
, an activist
reportedly filed a complaint against the dentist.
In another case, reported by the news portal
Focus.de
, employees of a nursing home for the elderly are said to have received mail from their employer.
“The vaccination is voluntary, but I would like to inform you that the employer generally has the right to exempt
employees from work who refuse to be vaccinated
.
In this case, no further remuneration is paid, this also applies to social security ”, says the letter that is available to the portal.
The boss only accepts a rejection of the vaccination for medical reasons.
Also read:
Corona: Do I get a sick leave if I have to be in quarantine?
Unpaid leave and termination are only possible after individual examination
Does this behavior make the employer
compulsory vaccination through the back door?
Lawyer Christian Solmecke explains in a video on
Focus.de
:
"It's not that simple with unpaid leave of absence,"
explains the lawyer.
"Before doing this, it would first have to be checked whether further protective measures such as a face mask would be sufficient or whether the employee can also be used differently."
Only then would an exemption without a salary be conceivable, according to the legal expert.
In the worst case, however, there could also be a
personal termination
.
“If the health risks for the residents are so immense, the employer can already say: Anyone who works in this area and is not vaccinated is not suitable for the job.
Unless there are other ways to protect the residents and to employ the employee elsewhere, "said the lawyer.
However, the individual case must always be examined here.
Increase the willingness of medical personnel to vaccinate through education
Just
50 percent of the nursing staff want to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2
.
This is shown by a survey by the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN) and the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), the results of which
are available to
the
Deutsches Ärzteblatt
.
The reason: Many employees are
afraid of side effects and long-term damage
, according to the survey.
But instead of increasing the pressure on the part of employers, they should take the fears about the corona injection seriously.
In order to counteract this, education about the principle of action of the vaccine and the side effects help, explains the President of DIVI, Uwe Janssens.
"The goal must be
to take the reservations about vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 away from employees in the healthcare sector,
" explains Janssens in
Deutsches Ärzteblatt
.
"Because the effectiveness of the vaccination is high and the side effects that occur are justifiable and low."
(As) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen central editorial network.
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