Short News |


Employer's Claim for Compensation in the Case of a Fourteen-Day Quarantine Order

An employer is not entitled to compensation payments under the German Infection Protection Act if the employee has a claim for continuation of pay (Lohnfortzahlung) towards the employer during a fourteen-day self-isolation. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Koblenz (dated 10 May 2021, 3 K 107/21.KO and 3 K 108/21.KO).

For infection prevention and control, two female employees suspected of being infected were ordered to self-isolate. Subsequently, the employer applied to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for reimbursement of compensation payments which it had made to its employees for their loss of earnings during the period of isolation, as well as for social security contributions. The state only granted reimbursement for the period from the sixth day of self-isolation, stating that the employees had a claim against the employer for continuation of pay for the first five days of isolation. The employer filed an action, arguing that in case of a quarantine lasting longer than five days, the period of absence could no longer be considered relatively inconsiderable, as provided for in section 616 of the German Civil Code (BGB). If the inability to work lasted for a considerable period of time, the claim for continuation of pay would not apply at all, i.e. also with respect to the non-considerable period of time ("all-or-nothing principle").
The administrative judges in Koblenz did not agree and dismissed the action on the following grounds: Although it is true that an employer who continues to pay wages and social security contributions in the case of self-isolation has a claim for reimbursement of these payments under the German Infection Protection Act. However, this was not the case if the employee was entitled to continuation of pay by the employer despite the employee's inability of work. Pursuant to section 616 sentence 1 BGB, an employee is entitled to continuation of pay if he or she is prevented from performing his or her duties for a relatively inconsiderable period of time through no fault of his or her own. This was the case here. The official self-isolation orders, which were issued on the basis of a suspicion of contagion, were an obstacle to performance on their part. In addition, the period of inability to work for six or fourteen days, which had occurred as a result of the self-isolation, was still a relatively insignificant period. In order to assess the significance, primarily the proportion of the years of employment or service to the duration of the inability to work is relevant. With a duration of employment of at least one year, an inability to work of a maximum of fourteen days as a result of a self-isolation was generally still to be considered an insignificant period. This result did further not need to be corrected for reasons of reasonableness in the case discussed. The risk of having to continue to pay the employee's wages for a fortnight during a quarantine of a maximum of fourteen days in the case of an employment relationship lasting at least one year was generally calculable for the employer. Since the employees of the employer had already been employed by the employer for considerably longer than one year, they were therefore entitled to continuation of pay. This precluded the employer's claim for compensation. The parties have the right to appeal against both decisions, which has been admitted due to its fundamental importance.

(Source: press release of the Administrative Court of Koblenz of 1 June 2021)