What are employers now obliged to do?

All employees who do not work exclusively at home must be offered a corona test in their companies on a regular basis. The ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Labor enables self-tests as well as quick tests in which trained personnel take a smear. It is only stipulated that the tests must be used to directly detect the pathogen of the coronavirus.

How often do tests have to be offered?

As a rule, employees who do not work in the home office must be offered at least one corona test per calendar week according to the regulation. Two test offers per week are expressly required for groups with an increased risk of infection. This affects, among other things, staff with many personal customer contacts, employees who are housed in shared accommodation, as well as employees who perform body-friendly services – for example in cosmetic studios and massage parlors.

Is there a test requirement for the staff?

No. It is a test offer obligation for employers. In principle, employees are free to accept these offers or not. The Federal Ministry of Labor argues that the legal hurdles for compulsory testing are too high. “The obligation to cooperate of employees in occupational safety would not cover such a test obligation,” said a ministry spokesman. However, the federal government has called for employers to take advantage of the test offers.

How do the companies have to implement the obligation?

The employers must make the tests available and document that they have purchased the tests or offer appropriate test capacities. However, you do not have to document that your employees make use of them. It is therefore actually sufficient to send self-tests home to employees or to make self-tests available to everyone in the company.

Who pays for the tests?

The employers have to bear the costs for the tests offered. According to its own information, the federal government expects that the test offers initially required by the end of June will cost 130 euros per employee. Companies that are particularly burdened can, however, claim the expenses as part of an application for bridging aid.

What should the tests bring?

The tests are designed to help detect corona infections in people who do not yet show any symptoms or no clear symptoms. However, a negative test result is no guarantee that the person concerned is not infected. Even if handled correctly, a negative test is “just less likely” to be contagious to others, explains the Robert Koch Institute. Against this background, the ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Labor justifies the new obligation with the aim of “reducing the operational SARS-CoV-2 infection risk”. According to the current status, negative test results are only meaningful for the current day. Therefore, even before the regulation came into force, there was criticism that one or two tests per week were not sufficient.

Why is the federal government introducing compulsory testing?

The federal government did not consider the implementation of the test offers of the companies on the basis of the voluntary commitment to be sufficient. In the debate about the implementation of the test offers in practice, the various sides cited different numbers. On April 8, the federal government published the results of a survey carried out on its behalf. It came to the result that 69 percent of the companies and around 70 percent of the employees either already received regular test offers or these should follow shortly. This proportion was well below the aforementioned target of 90 percent. Two days earlier, the major trade associations had published their own figures, according to which 80 to 90 percent of the companies were already offering tests or were preparing to do so immediately.

What criticism is there from the employer?

Leading trade associations such as the Federation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) describe the mandatory test offers as a “declaration of mistrust towards companies”. The test requirement is criticized as “another bureaucratic burden”. In addition, various associations stated that there were problems, especially for smaller companies, in obtaining sufficient quantities of the required tests.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has just submitted a proposal to the Government to develop the Law on Social Insurance (amended) (social insurance). According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the current development of social insurance beneficiaries is below potential, many people are subject to compulsory social insurance but have not yet participated. The current law is “missing” many subjects Data from the General Statistics Office shows that in 2019, the whole country had more than 5.6 million individual business households, eight times the number of enterprises. According to the tax authorities, the country has more than 1.7 million times of households paying tax (households with turnover less than 100 million VND / year do not have to pay). However, this group is not subject to compulsory social insurance, so very few individual business householders participate in voluntary social insurance. According to data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in 2019 there are about 23,000 active cooperatives, attracting nearly six million members. In which 1.2 million people work in the cooperative area. But according to the report of the social insurance agency, there are nearly 7,000 cooperatives registered to participate in compulsory social insurance for about 41,000 employees. “Through a survey in some localities, many business managers, managers and executives of unpaid cooperatives wish to participate in compulsory social insurance …” – said by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Therefore, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs proposes to add compulsory social insurance participants for individual business householders, business managers, managers and cooperatives without pay. Specific provisions on compulsory social insurance for employees who work part-time and participate in compulsory social insurance with civil servants, public employees, part-time workers at commune level who also sign labor contracts. moving. According to the assessment of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the above provision helps to increase the income of the social insurance fund in the short and medium term, while also increasing the expenditure from the social insurance fund in both short, medium and long term. The number of people who receive one-time social insurance to take care of their immediate life tends to increase. Photo: V.LONG Need to have a share in participating in social insurance According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the nature of risk sharing is only evident in sickness, maternity, labor accident, and occupational disease regimes. The pension policy is designed to be heavy on the principle of payment – benefit (pay more and enjoy more and vice versa) but lack attention to the principle of sharing between high and low salary people. According to data reported by the Vietnam Social Security, by the end of 2017, the average pension is 4.26 million VND / person / month. In which, the highest is 101.3 million VND / person / month, the lowest is 1.3 million VND / person / month (more than 4,100 people have this pension). The large gap in pension discourages people with low wages, leading to an increase in the number of people who want to receive one-time social insurance. In recent years, each year about 600,000 people enjoy one-time social insurance and leave the social insurance system. Therefore, this agency proposes to amend the method of calculating the average monthly salary paid for social insurance to calculate the pension for the employee, in the direction of the average monthly salary paid for social insurance of that person and the average monthly salary paid for social insurance. of people participating in social insurance to calculate their pensions. Thus, there will be a certain share between the high-paid and the low-paid. “The narrowing of the pension gap will encourage the participants of low-wage social insurance to reserve the time to pay social insurance to enjoy the pension instead of receiving one-time social insurance …” – The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs assessed. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said that if allowed, the unit would be authorized by the Government to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and comments on the first bill at the second session of term XV (October 2022). Submit to the National Assembly for approval at the third session, term XV (May 2023). “Tighten” regulations on receiving social insurance once Currently, the condition to receive one-time social insurance is quite easy. Specifically, after one year of not participating in social insurance, the employee can receive one-time social insurance with the entitlement of 1.5 months of salary for each year participating in social insurance before 2014 and two months of salary for each participating year thereafter. Thus, with the contribution to the pension and death fund of 8% of the salary from the employee, the one year of paying 0.96 months of salary, the entitlement to two months’ salary upon receiving one-time social insurance is considered profitable. Along with having to wait too long to enjoy pension, employees will want to receive one-time social insurance to meet immediate needs. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the regulations on one-time social insurance entitlement in the direction of having a roadmap to only deal with employees when they have reached the end of their working age but are not eligible for pensions without the need to continue paying. . Except for the case of going abroad to legally settle down or suffering from a dangerous disease and wishing to receive it once, or if the case is not yet over the working age, but receives one-time social insurance, the rate of entitlement is lower. In addition, the law also needs to amend the conditions for enjoying the pension in the direction of gradually reducing the number of years of minimum social insurance payment from 20 years to 15 years, towards 10 years with an appropriate calculated benefit level, creating conditions for The elderly, with a low number of years participating in social insurance, are entitled to pensions. 65% of Vietnamese elderly do not have a pension According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, by the end of 2020, Vietnam has about 14.1 million people after the retirement age (55 years old for women, 60 years old and older for men). Of which, only over 3.1 million people are enjoying the pension (accounting for 22.1%) and 1.8 million people are enjoying the retirement allowance. There are still about 9.2 million people after the retirement age (accounting for 65%) who have not participated in insurance or any other social security layer.

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