Companies should apparently be obliged to offer a corona test offer for employees. According to the SPD, the coalition is in agreement. The Ministry of Economic Affairs gave in, according to a report.
There is an agreement in the coalition to oblige companies to offer a quick test for face-to-face employees in the company. The SPD chairmen Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans announced after a meeting of the presidium that this will now be initiated by the federal government in the cabinet meeting. The SPD assumes that the federal cabinet as a whole will both adopt stricter corona rules through federal law and approve an ordinance on the obligation to test offers in companies. Esken and co-party leader Walter-Borjans announced that the cabinet would take note of an ordinance from Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, with which mandatory test offers would be established in companies. This was discussed with the federal states and parliamentary groups, and the federal cabinet was also “in agreement on these objectives,” said Esken.
Usage does not have to be documented
The draft of the Ministerial Ordinance is based on the ARD capital studio in front. There should therefore not be any obligation to test for employees. It is only about the test offer obligation for companies. Companies also do not have to document whether the employees actually use the tests. And: Companies that have been badly hit by the Corona crisis can count the expenses for the tests as a cost item for the bridging aid. First of all, every employee should receive one test per week. If you have a lot of contacts, you should get two tests. All in all, the regulation is not as strict as many business associations fear. And yet there is criticism, for example from the employers’ association BDA. Managing Director Steffen Kampeter criticizes: The obligation to test leads to more bureaucracy and discredits the voluntary commitment of companies. It is of little consolation if the test bureaucracy that has now been introduced does not implement all of the proposed measures.
Stricter rules, more childhood sick days
The ministerial coordination is currently ongoing, tomorrow the federal cabinet is expected to approve the measure. According to the SPD boss Esken, the generally stricter corona rules that are also to be decided include a binding emergency brake, according to which “all openings must be withdrawn” if the infection value exceeds 100. There are “exit restrictions to be provided”. It was also agreed to increase the number of days paid for children’s illnesses per parent from the current 20 to 30 days. With a view to resistance in the Union parliamentary group to these new regulations, Esken said: “It must now be our most important goal to protect the health of people and the employees in hospitals”. The situation in the intensive care units is particularly dramatic, said the SPD leader.
Compulsory tests should relieve the economy
In view of the negative attitude of some Union politicians to mandatory test offers in companies, Walter-Borjans warned that these politicians should also be aware that this would “avert a complete lockdown” for the economy. He also referred to ongoing discussions about extending the bridging allowances for businesses as well as in favor of downtown businesses. The SPD parliamentary group is also obviously behind the planned measures. “We support a rapid emergency brake in the Infection Protection Act, which formulates the measures precisely and bindingly,” said parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese of the AFP news agency. The current inconsistencies in protective measures must be overcome. Wiese also pushed for a nationwide test obligation for employers, “because it is becoming more and more obvious that it does not work across the board without pressure”.
Advance by the Minister of Labor
With his plans for a mandatory test offer at the workplace, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil had accelerated the discussion. Encouragement for the move came from the union side, among others. Reiner Hoffmann, chairman of the German trade union federation (DGB), told the newspapers of the “Funke Mediengruppe” that there had to be a test obligation for employers: “It is simply not understandable why people in the private sector have been restricting themselves to their basic rights for over a year , but the rules for employers are still as smooth as butter. ” The Union and employers have so far refused to test. Economics minister Peter Altmaier recently emphasized that he relied on the voluntary nature of the companies that had agreed to expand their test offer. According to a report by “Spiegel”, the Federal Ministry of Economics is said to have given way in the meantime. It was said that one would turn around. The departmental coordination is ongoing to clarify the final details. With information from Tobias Betz, ARD capital studio
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