OVG: penalty payment for enforcing vaccination not legal

Created: 06/22/2022, 16:06

A statue of Lady Justice stands holding scales and sword.

© Arne Dedert/dpa/symbol image

A district may not persuade an employee of a retirement home to have a corona vaccination under threat of a fine.

This was decided by the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court on Wednesday in summary proceedings (Az.: 14 ME 258/22).

The judges in Lüneburg thus dismissed the Diepholz district's appeal against a decision by the Hanover administrative court (Az.

Lüneburg - : 15 B 1609/22) back.

The decision of the Senate is not contestable.

The woman's employer from Diepholz had informed the district that the employee was not vaccinated.

The district then ordered proof of vaccination for a first vaccination within a period of 14 days and proof of vaccination for a second vaccination within a period of a further 42 days.

He threatened the applicant with a fine if she did not comply with the order.

The OVG confirmed that the administrative district's procedure was illegal due to a violation of the voluntariness of the vaccination decision, which is protected by law.

The institution- and company-related obligation to provide evidence, also referred to as "facility-related vaccination obligation", does not justify an obligation for the persons concerned to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In fact, the regulation gives those affected the choice of either giving up their previous job or consenting to the impairment of their physical integrity through the vaccination.

This gives the health department the opportunity to issue an immediately enforceable ban on entry or activity if proof is not presented.

This corresponds to the meaning and purpose of the facility and company-related obligation to provide evidence of protecting extremely vulnerable groups of people from infection with the virus promptly and to a particular extent.

dpa