FAZ exclusive: Coalition agrees on vaccination query by employers

Employers in schools, kindergartens, hospitals or nursing homes will in future be able to query the corona vaccination status of their employees in order to be able to react to it operationally.

According to FAZ information, the coalition factions of the Union and the SPD agreed on a corresponding change to the Infection Protection Act on Thursday evening.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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The new version states: "If and insofar as this is necessary to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), the employer can provide information or provide evidence of the existence of vaccination protection or the existence of a demand natural immunity in relation to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). "The data should be collected directly from the employee.

This should not be pressured to get vaccinated.

Embedded in the flood relief law, the Bundestag Health Committee wants to discuss the amendment this Friday.

The law is then to be passed at the special sessions of both chambers of parliament in the coming week.

Disagreements between Heil and Spahn

There had been disagreements between Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) about the right to information on vaccination status.

The latter and his party had been exposed to pressure from the trade unions who wanted to prevent disclosure of the vaccination status, including with reference to data protection.

Spahn and the Union, however, saw themselves harassed by employers and parts of the public, who pointed out, among other things, that non-immunized employees, whose vaccination status was unknown, had caused Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes.

The compromise that has now been reached provides that there is no general right to information in the economy - for example for industrial companies - but only for particularly endangered institutions.

These include schools and other training centers, kindergartens and after-school care centers, facilities for the disabled and care facilities, homes for the homeless, refugee or asylum seeker accommodation, prisons, as well as institutions and companies "where there is the possibility that pathogens can be transmitted through blood through activities on humans".

These presumably include laboratories, medical practices, clinics or certain pharmaceutical departments.

Limitations in terms of time and content

Not only is the group of companies limited, but also the scope in terms of time and content. In the amendment of the parliamentary groups of the Union and the SPD, which the FAZ has before, it is said that the employer may only as long as "personal data of an employee about his vaccination and serostatus in relation to the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)" process how the Bundestag determined an epidemic situation of national importance. In addition, the company may "only process this data if and insofar as this is necessary to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19)."

The changes make it clear that on the one hand the aim is to protect particularly vulnerable groups and on the other hand to be careful where there are many people in a confined space.

The employer must be able to use employees "differently or to refrain from employing unvaccinated persons (in certain areas)" in accordance with their Covid-19 protection.

In this way, the companies could organize the work in such a way that, on the one hand, an “appropriate use of staff” would be possible and, on the other hand, the necessary hygiene rules would be met.

Employers wanted a more extensive solution

The chairman of the Bundestag health committee Erwin Rüddel (CDU) was relieved about the agreement with the social democrats. "I welcome the fact that employers from the health sector should be able to query the vaccination status of their employees," he told the FAZ. For reasons of health protection, he thinks the changes are very useful. "The aim is to increase the safety for patients, especially since they belong to risk groups."

Industry and employers' associations are likely to be disappointed. They wanted a time-limited right to information about the Covid-19 vaccination also for companies outside of education, health and care, in order to adapt the work processes to this and to endanger as few employees, suppliers and customers as possible. The SPD and the German Federation of Trade Unions should be able to live well with the reduced right to information.

The now agreed changes in the Infection Protection Act also provide for a more differentiated infection assessment in the Corona crisis.

So far, the assessments of the situation and the subsequent restrictions and requirements have largely been based on the incidence, i.e. on the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants determined in the past seven days.

The number of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals per 100,000 inhabitants in one week should now serve as the "essential benchmark for further protective measures".

In addition, other parameters should be taken into account: in addition to the incidence, the available intensive care treatment capacities and the number of people vaccinated.