Corona test offer by employer

The federal government has agreed on uniform corona regulations through the “emergency brake”. The amendments to the Infection Protection Act contain stricter obligations: home office obligation for employees and the obligation of employers to offer corona tests to their employees.

What does this mean in detail?

• In the case of office work or comparable activities, the employer must offer employees home office regardless of incidence, unless there are compelling operational reasons to the contrary. This is in line with the previous regulation in the Corona Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance and is now reinforced by its inclusion in the Infection Protection Act.
• Employees must accept this home office offer, provided that there are no reasons to the contrary on their part. Such reasons may be: confined space, disruptions by third parties or inadequate technical equipment. If this is the case, it is recommended to document this at least in text form (e.g. e-mail) for traceability (including proof to the authorities).
• If employees do not work exclusively from home, i.e. do they also work from the office, employers are obliged to do so regularly (at least twice per week) to offer corona tests.
• However, employees are not required to take advantage of these tests.
• The employer must bear the costs of the tests offered. However, it is possible to be reimbursed for masks provided and tests offered from the aid package by 30.06.2021.
• Self-rapid tests, rapid PoC tests and PCR tests may be offered. Self-tests under supervision are likely to be the most efficient and cost-effective in everyday office life, as no medically trained personnel are required.
• Employers must document the corona test offer and keep it for 4 weeks.
• A positive test result must be reported to the employer and the employee must go into quarantine. Even though the obligation to report to the health department is only for the rapid test, it is recommended that positive self-test results be reported to the health department as well.
• A certificate of the test result must be issued upon request. The countries provide various sample templates for this purpose. Here is one overview the country regulations and, for example, the download area for the country berlin.
• If official orders to enforce the measure (offer of corona tests by employers) are violated, a fine of up to 30,000€ may be imposed.
  

Our recommendations:

In the corona pandemic, every employee should pay attention to infection protection and act in solidarity with their colleagues when deciding whether to comply with the employer's request for a test and whether there are real reasons to work from home. Employers and employees should act responsibly and in solidarity and develop solutions together.

It is recommended to set up a central office in the company to take care of logistical issues and implementation of the tests and to ensure employee data protection, for example, in the event of positive results, to manage them and to inform the supervisor that the affected employee will not start work. As few colleagues as possible should become aware of a positive test, the data should be stored separately and not in the personnel file and deleted after four months at the latest.

It is best to contact your company doctor and data protection officer - they will certainly support you.