Employers must continue to pay employees if they issue stricter quarantine rules than those required by the authorities for returnees from corona risk areas.
The Federal Labor Court decided on Wednesday (5 AZR 154/22) in Erfurt.
If the employer refuses access to the company to an employee who presents a current negative PCR test when entering Germany and for whom there is no obligation to isolate himself because he is symptom-free, he owes compensation for default of acceptance, explained the highest German labor court.
A food manufacturer from Berlin provided the precedent for another corona judgment by the highest German labor court.
The plaintiff, a holiday returnee from Turkey, had been banned from entering his company despite a negative corona test.
He successfully defended himself against the company regulation, which did not provide for any payment during the prescribed fourteen-day quarantine.