Quarantine ruling for returnees from corona risk areas

Created: 08/10/2022Updated: 08/10/2022 4:33 p.m

The entrance to the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt.

© Martin Schutt/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/Archive image

No work and no money after vacation in the Corona risk area?

The Federal Labor Court heard a case in which the employer set up its own tough quarantine rules.

It costs him money now.

Erfurt – Employers who impose stricter quarantine rules on holiday returnees from corona risk areas than those provided for by the authorities are generally not allowed to lock employees out without pay.

The Federal Labor Court decided on Wednesday in a landmark judgment (5 AZR 154/22) in Erfurt.

The plaintiff, a holiday returnee from Turkey, had been banned from entering his company for fourteen days despite negative corona tests.

A food manufacturer from Berlin provided the precedent for another corona judgment by the highest German labor court.

The case

After his vacation in summer 2020 in Turkey, which was then classified as a corona risk area by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the Berliner had done a lot: a PCR test after departure, one on arrival in Germany and another certificate from family doctor.

It was certified that he was Covid-19 and free of symptoms.

Nevertheless, his employer would not let him into the company after his vacation, demanded two weeks of quarantine and did not want to pay the night cleaning manager during this time.

On the other hand, the man complained - and also won in the highest instance.

His employer has to pay him a salary - exactly 1512.47 euros.

The judgment

The Fifth Senate with the presiding judge Rüdiger Linck decided that companies with a corona hygiene concept that provides for stricter rules than the official quarantine obligation must continue to pay employees in the event of an entry ban despite a negative corona test.

According to the decision, the employer “basically owes remuneration for default of acceptance”.

"The reason for the failure to perform the work" was finally "set by the employer himself".

In addition, the plaintiff was not given the opportunity to largely rule out an infection by means of a further PCR test.

The rules of the employer

A hygiene concept developed by the group headquarters of the company specializing in frozen products stipulated that travelers returning from a risk area had to stay at home for 14 days.

A one-time PCR test upon return would not be accepted.

The employer informed the employees about countries that the RKI had classified as a risk area, including Turkey.

In the event of a quarantine, employees would lose their entitlement to wages.

In the labor court proceedings, the employer argued that he had made the company quarantine order because of a “comparatively high risk of a false negative test result”.

What the authorities said

The responsible health authority had informed the plaintiff at his request that travelers returning from corona risk areas were exempt from the obligation to quarantine if they could show a current negative corona test.

It referred to the ordinance of the State of Berlin from June 2020. A medical certificate and current laboratory findings had to be submitted.

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The legal aspect

Legally, the issue was whether the plaintiff duly offered his work but was wrongly not accepted by the employer.

This results in obligations to pay wages or not.

Lawyers speak of “default in acceptance”.

What currently applies

According to the RKI, there has only been the category of virus variant areas since the beginning of June 2022 after the change in the coronavirus entry regulation.

The category of high-risk areas has been dropped.

In principle, returnees no longer need proof “that they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested, provided they are not entering the country from a virus variant area”.

dpa