Corona as a work accident?

Police officers fight for recognition in court - they are not alone

Created: 12/25/2021, 10:16 AM

From: Thomas Eldersch

Police officers often put themselves at greater risk of contracting Covid-19.

So far, however, this has not counted as an accident at work.

© nordphoto GmbH / Hafner / Imago

Is corona illness a work accident?

The Bavarian administrative courts are currently dealing with this.

So far, officials have often been left behind.

Munich - you are often on the first line.

Be it at demonstrations or in personal contact with citizens.

Police officers run the risk of being infected with Corona * every day.

Quite a few of them have already contracted it in Bavaria.

Now they hope that Covid-19 will be seen as a work-related accident.

So far with moderate success.

(By the way: Our Bavaria newsletter informs you about all the important stories from the Free State. Register here.)

Corona as a work accident: In one case, the administrative court ruled in favor of the police officer

In October 2021, the Augsburg Administrative Court * dealt with the question of whether a corona illness can be recognized as an occupational accident. In the specific case, a police officer from Neu-Ulm was infected with the virus on a sports course. And with him another 18 colleagues out of 21 participants, according to a court spokesman. The official was right in the first instance. He would be entitled to benefits from a special accident insurance. The judgment is not yet final and is still in the second instance at the Administrative Court in Munich *, reports the dpa.

In the particular case, the court considered it proven that the police officer could only have been infected during the sports course. Since he was not at home at the time and had also stayed on the premises. In other cases, the assignment is not that easy. And precisely for this reason - because it is often not possible to prove whether one was infected on the job or privately - police officers are initially left empty-handed. "As far as we know, the State Office for Finance has not yet recognized any corona illnesses as work-related accidents," said a spokesman for the Bavarian interior ministry responsible for the police when asked by the dpa.

So far, according to the Interior Ministry, 4,600 police officers have been infected with the corona virus *.

That is more than three times as many as at the beginning of 2021. At that time, the Interior Ministry put the number of infected police officers at around 1,400.

As of December 20, 2021, the ministry reported 288 acute infections.

In addition, 128 police officers were in quarantine at the time.

More than 4,300 employees in the Bavarian police were considered recovered.

Video: Police officers repeatedly expose themselves to the contagion during demonstrations

Corona as a work accident: a teacher also fights for recognition

The regional association of the German Police Union (DPolG) knows of around 100 cases in which officials wanted to claim their corona illness as an accident at the State Office for Finance. All was rejected. As a justification, the ministry cites that the place and time of infection could not be traced. It goes on to say that the infection was not caused “beyond the general risk of infection in a special way by the performance of the service”.

Meanwhile nine police officers have complained against this.

According to the Bavarian Administrative Court in Munich, eleven proceedings relating to corona infections and work-related accidents are ongoing.

Police officers are not the only officers fighting to ensure that Covid-19 counts as a work-related accident.

A complaint by a teacher from Lower Franconia is also being dealt with at the Administrative Court.

This case is also in the second instance, according to the court spokesman.