Quarantine due to corona during holiday - offset against annual leave?

After the German Bundestag passed the new version of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG) in its final deliberation on 08 September, the Bundesrat has now also approved it on 16 September. The new version is to apply as of 01 October. It will also include a provision that days in domestic quarantine are not allowed to be offset against annual leave. The planned new provision in the German Infection Protection Act in this regard is to read:

"§ 59 Special Provisions under Labour and Social Law

Where an employee is put under quarantine during his or her leave under Article 30, whether or not in conjunction with Article 32, or is required to be quarantined under a statutory instrument issued under Article 36(8), first sentence, number 1, the days of quarantine shall not be offset against annual leave."

For employers, this means in future that in the event of a domestic quarantine order, these days are not to be offset against annual leave.

On this topic, the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) submitted a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in its decision of 16 August 2022, asking whether holiday leave already granted must be granted subsequently due to a domestic quarantine ordered during this period. A detailed review of this decision by Maximilian Quader can be found here. For former cases from previous years, this provision will not apply in the new version of the Infection Protection Act, so that the decision of the ECJ remains to be seen.

Nora Nauta