Despite the corona pandemic, many still go to the office instead of working at home.
Some employers: in terms of working from home, there is enormous pressure.
What can employees do?
In order to further contain the spread of the coronavirus *, a new
home office
rule came into force
on January 27,
2021
.
Employers are therefore "obliged" to offer home work wherever possible.
What employees can do if
home
office is rejected.
Frankfurt / Berlin - To
Corona infections
to slow, as many are Abeitnehmer: inside
Germany
in the
home office
work.
With the new “
SARS-CoV-2-Arbeitsschutzverordnung
” of the Federal
Ministry
of Labor, the pressure on employers has now increased again.
From the entry into force on January 27, 2021, according to the ministry, they will be “obliged”
to
offer
employees to
work from home
in certain cases
.
But this is not used everywhere where home work is possible.
A study by the Hans Böckler Foundation, has the number of people working in the
home office
work since the beginning of
Corona crisis
drastically reduced in April 2020th
While 27 percent of those surveyed were still working from home in April, in November 2020, that is, at the time of the “
lockdown light
”, only 14
percent of those in
employment stated that they had mainly or exclusively worked at home.
And that despite the fact that politics at the time appealed to employers
to make
mobile work
possible across the board.
Home office in the Corona crisis: New requirements come into force in Germany
A Bitkom study from December 2020 also showed
that during Corona * times many still go to the
office
instead of working
from home
. According to this, 55 percent of all jobs could at least partially also be done from home.
But only 45 percent of the employed take up the offer.
"Only 25 percent of
those authorized
to work from home
work
entirely at home, 20 percent at least partially," it says.
The reasons why many employees continue to go to the office can be varied.
But the pressure from employers on their employees certainly also plays a role.
A case from Bavaria recently caused a stir.
As reported by ZDF, an employee of an industrial service company is said to have been put under massive pressure by her boss.
He threatened with
dismissal
should they sign up for
home office
decide.
In a statement, the company denied the approach.
However, the ZDF magazine Frontal 21 are currently more cases where companies attempted
home office
to get around.
Home office regulation |
date |
Shall apply from |
01/27/2021 |
Is likely to apply until |
03/15/2021 (can also be extended again) |
New home office rule: If you refuse to work from home
So what do you do if employees
are
denied home office?
Like other
regulations
, the new home office rule * leaves room for maneuver.
The wording states: "In the case of
office work
or comparable activities, the
employer must
offer
employees
to carry out these activities in their home if there are no compelling
operational reasons
".
The rule therefore applies to
office or similar activities
.
The company decides whether this can also be done at home.
However, the Federal
Ministry of
Labor speaks of a “duty” and says the regulation should ensure that
home office
cannot simply be arbitrarily refused.
Employers
are legally obliged to check whether home office is possible and then have to offer their employees this, says Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD).
+
The conflict over working from home: Some employers put employees under pressure.
(Symbol image)
© Sebastian Gollnow
Employers: avoid home office - what employees can do
The general rule is that no
employee: r has to go to the home office
if he or she does not want to.
If you should
refuse to
work from home
despite your request, although it would be possible from your job, Heil advises you to first talk to your employer.
If that doesn't work either, the next step is to involve the
works council
, if there is one.
The
health and safety authority of
the respective federal state can also be
approached
in the
event of a conflict
.
At the request of the authority, the employer must then explain reasons why home office is not possible.
According to Heil,
fines are also
possible in the
“greatest emergency”
.
Theoretically up to 30,000 euros.
Another issue is whether employees would even enter into such a conflict.
In addition to the mandatory
home office offer
for employees, the regulation also tightened the rules for infection protection at the workplace.
The
regulation
is limited in time and is only valid until March 15th.
If the situation does not ease, the government could extend it.
(svw mit dpa)
* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital editorial network
List of rubric lists: © Sebastian Gollnow
