"Go to Homeoffice. Go directly to home office. Do not pass GO. Do not collect £ 200".

The "Go to Home Office Chance Card" applies to all employees from now on. It applies by virtue of the German Infection Protection Act. Workers do not even have to land on the Chance space. In the Monopoly game, the "Go to Home Office Chance Card" is inconvenient. Players in jail are temporarily "out of the game" and are not eligible to collect Monopoly vital rents. Those who are in jail - just like in real life - do not get out any time soon. To get out of jail, the player must either use the card "You get out of jail free", roll doubles if available, or pay money to the bank. With the "Nationwide Emergency Brake", employees must go directly to the home office and not pass through the company. As they continue to perform work, they collect remuneration. Home office is of course not comparable to jail, but it does make a difference whether you live in Old Kent Road (Badstraße) and White Chapel Road (Turmstraße) or in Park Lane (Parkstraße) and Mayfair (Schlossallee).

Dear Readers, dear Monopoly players,

With the coming into force of the Fourth Act for the Protection of the Population in the Event of an Epidemic Situation of National Significance, the regulations on home office will be included in the German Infection Protection Act and the previous regulations on home office will be deleted from the SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance. In terms of content, the regulation remains the same for employers, but employees are obliged to work from home for the first time.

Previous Corona Home Office Regulation

Up to now, in the case of office work or comparable activities, the employer had to offer its employees to carry out these activities at their home if there were no compelling operational reasons to the contrary. The decision on suitability or possible conflicting reasons was made by the employer.

Previously, employers were obliged to offer home office to their employees but employees were not obliged to accept the offer and work from home. Home office required the consent of the employees. In the Monopoly game language, this would be roughly comparable to the community card: "Pay a fine of £ 15 or take a Chance card".

A deviating determination of the contractual place of work from the company to the home office required a regulation in the employment contract between employer and employees or a company agreement.

The previous obligation of the employer to offer home office was regulated in the SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance.

Home Office - Duty of the Employer and of the Employee

The employer's duty to offer home office wherever possible remains and is regulated by the "Fourth Act for the Protection of the Population in the Event of an Epidemic Situation of National Significance" (Federal Emergency Brake) from now on in section 28b (7) German Infection Protection Act and reads as follows:

„(7) In the case of office work or comparable activities, the employer must offer employees the opportunity to carry out these activities in their homes if there are no compelling operational reasons to the contrary. The employees must accept this offer if there are no reasons to the contrary. The competent authorities for the implementation of sentences 1 and 2 shall be determined by the federal states in accordance with section 54 sentence 1."

If offered by their employer, employees must work in their home office if this is possible on their part. In the Monopoly game language, this would be roughly comparable to the Chance card: "Move forward to the [place of residence] road. If you pass Go, collect £ 200."

Reasons for employees not being able to do so may be cramped quarters, interference from third parties or inadequate technical equipment.

With warm (labour law) regards to the home office or to the workplace in the company.

Yours Dr Erik Schmid

_{Note: This blog post has already been published in the labour law blog of Dr Erik Schmid at Rehm Verlag (www.rehm-verlag.de).}