Labor Activity - Vacation amid Coronavirus quarantine is not compensating.
Workers are not allowed to make up for the lost vacation days due to mandatory coronavirus quarantine, as per a ruling by the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt. This decision only applies to cases before the legal amendment in 2022 and for employees who were not infected by the virus themselves (9 AZR 76/22), as confirmed by a spokesperson from the highest German labor court.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) addressed this issue in December 2023. It stated that the vacation days spent in a coronavirus quarantine cannot be compensated. The ECJ compared the quarantine to a regular illness. This was their reasoning in a case from Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Federal Labor Court handled several such cases, including one from North Rhine-Westphalia. If the vacation had been requested and approved by the employer, the employee takes on the risk, as declared by the spokesperson. The employer does not owe the employee vacation time as a means of relaxation. The plaintiffs had claimed that they should be allowed to make up for the vacation days missed due to a coronavirus quarantine.
In an amendment to the Infection Protection Act in September 2022, it stipulates that the quarantine periods ordered by authorities will not be credited to vacation. However, this regulation doesn't apply retroactively to earlier times, which covers most of the coronavirus period.
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- Despite the decision of the Federal Labor Court in Erfurt, employers in Thuringia, like other federal courts in Germany, still follow the ruling, denying workers the option to make up for lost vacation days due to coronavirus quarantine.
- The ECJ, in a case from Rhineland-Palatinate in December 2023, compared the quarantine to a regular illness and concluded that vacation days spent in quarantine cannot be compensated.
- The Federal Labor Court, in a case from North Rhine-Westphalia, stated that if vacation had been approved by the employer, the employee bears the risk of not being able to make up for missed vacation days due to a coronavirus quarantine.
- Despite the amendment to the Infection Protection Act in September 2022, which does not credit quarantine periods ordered by authorities to vacation, the regulation does not apply retroactively, covering most of the coronavirus period.
- The Federal Labor Court, the highest German labor court, affirmed in a ruling that employees who were not infected by the virus themselves cannot make up for missed vacation days due to coronavirus quarantine before the legal amendment in 2022.
- Quarantine periods related to coronavirus in Germany, as observed by the Federal Labor Court, do not allow workers to make up for lost vacation days, resulting in a challenge for employees who were unable to take their vacation due to quarantine.
Source: www.stern.de
