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In Hamburg, the inspectors are busy getting started.

They write to around 500 companies so that they can provide information on their home office regulations.

In addition, the employees of the Office for Occupational Safety and Health visit 200 companies without prior notice.

"As part of this focus action, the entire spectrum is covered - from publishers to banks to insurance companies," said a spokesman for the competent authority for justice and consumer protection.

The goal: The inspectors should find out whether the companies are complying with the prescribed pandemic precautions and whether office workers can move to their homes to work.

It is a topic that is now occupying the entire republic: Which employers wrongly prohibit their employees from working from home - and how can this be prevented?

Leading politicians had identified this as the key to fighting pandemic in recent weeks.

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Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) finally presented the Sars-CoV-2 occupational health and safety ordinance.

Among other things, companies must therefore offer employees in the case of office work to be able to do these tasks in their home if there are no compelling operational reasons to the contrary.

Only a few federal states commit themselves to specific figures

These new rules have been in effect since Wednesday.

Employees can now contact the labor protection authorities of the federal states or the accident insurance institutions.

In addition, there should be random checks.

Companies face fines of up to 30,000 euros.

It is also legally possible to prohibit continued operation.

But what is really happening now?

WELT asked in the 16 federal states.

The answers show that while in some places there are relatively detailed strategies, others need time to implement.

But it is scarce.

After all, quick success is the goal of politics in order to contain the infection rate.

And the new rules will initially only apply until March 15th.

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Only a few federal states commit themselves to specific figures.

In Berlin, the State Office for Occupational Safety, Health Protection and Technical Safety wants to check about 80 times a week.

"The controls will initially focus on companies with open-plan offices, call centers, insurance companies, architectural offices and the administrative area of ​​corporate headquarters," said a spokesman.

In many federal states, however, waiting is the motto.

All complaints are followed up to what extent “self-initiated surveillance” is required, but decisions are only made after initial experience, according to Hessen.

Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein report similar things.

15 reports in Saxony-Anhalt

In Saxony it is said that random checks appear to be “not very effective”.

The reason: The responsible occupational health and safety department of the State Office of Saxony does not know "whether home offices are carried out in a company or whether suitable jobs are available".

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How many complaints were received from employees in the first few days is difficult to determine in many federal states.

This is partly due to the fact that occupational safety is organized on a decentralized basis and is the responsibility of several trade supervisory authorities and other bodies.

In Bavaria, for example, employees also turned to the State Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Affairs, its citizens' office and other ministries, the authority reports.

The State Office for Consumer Protection in Saxony-Anhalt received 15 reports by Friday morning in connection with the occupational health and safety ordinance, in which the affected asked the authorities to intervene.

The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) is currently unable to report any major effort.

The accident insurance institutions can also advise and monitor companies.

However, the DGUV has not yet received any information on whether employees have already contacted their trade association or accident insurance company about refusing to work from home.

Many jobs are not suitable for working at home

A spokesman explains that there are currently more questions from occupational safety specialists in companies about the subject of mouth and nose protection.

The new occupational safety and health ordinance also stipulates that employers provide medical face masks, FFP2 masks or the like for employees on site and that employees must wear these if distances cannot be maintained.

Another fact suggests that the implementation of this point is likely to play a greater role than the topic of home office: More than half of all employees have jobs that are not at all suitable for working at home.

The Ministry of Labor in Thuringia also points this out: Only 20 percent of employees in the state are employed in professions where home office is traditionally an option.

Thuringia is one of the federal states with the highest proportion of industrial employees and the highest density of crafts.

In the economy there is also talk of “bureaucratic actionism”.

It doesn't go any better when politics interferes, employer President Rainer Dulger complained last week.

The regulation will achieve little.

"Everyone who can work from home is already doing that in a very, very large number of companies," quoted him in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung".

There are black sheep, but appeals are the right way to go.

Some employees want to go to the office

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In fact, it is completely unclear how many employers still require their employees to be present in the office.

In the social networks, employees reported that, especially in smaller companies, there was still compulsory attendance in the office.

Politicians often referred to an investigation by the Hans Böckler Foundation.

This speaks of “surprisingly low” use of the home office in November, ie at the beginning of the “lockdown light”.

14 percent of the employed persons surveyed stated that they mainly or exclusively work in the home office.

In the first lockdown in April, it was 27 percent.

However, it is also possible that the use of the home office had already changed with the worsening of the pandemic and after numerous appeals from politicians and social partners before the regulation was adopted.

In addition, many employees are likely to want to go to the office themselves.