Information for all employees on the renewed home office obligation
2021-11-25
Dear Colleagues,
In view of the sharp rise in corona infections, Bundestag and Bundesrat have decided to reintroduce the home office obligation for employers and employees. The new provision in Section 28b (4) IfSG applies with immediate effect and is expected to remain in force until March 19, 2022. It is based on the rules that previously applied until June of this year:
1) Employers must offer employees in the case of "office work or comparable activities" to perform these activities in the home office if there are no compelling operational reasons to the contrary. Compelling business reasons include all circumstances that make it necessary to perform the activity in the office, e.g. because mail must be processed, the work can only be performed with equipment, documents or materials that are only available in the office, or because office hours and public traffic take place due to the unrestricted presence of instructors and students.
2) Employees shall accept this offer and, in the case of office work or comparable activities, work in the home office, provided that there are no reasons on their part which make work in the home office impossible. These reasons include, for example, interference from third parties, noise pollution, or a lack of an adequate workplace.
Against this background, I would like to inform you about the following regulations regarding the implementation of the home office obligation at Leuphana University of Lüneburg:
3) All employees of Leuphana University of Lüneburg are again requested, with immediate effect, to carry out office work or comparable activities from home - provided there are no official reasons to the contrary - in consultation with and with the approval of your superiors. Please talk to your superiors about this as soon as possible and document the result in an informal e-mail to your superiors.
4) If, despite the approval of your superiors, personal reasons such as disturbances, noise pollution or a lack of an adequate workplace prevent you from working from home, please also document this in an informal e-mail to your superiors.
5) All buildings, offices and infrastructures of the university remain accessible to you and can be used. The service facilities on campus, in particular the library, the university sports center and, after consultation with the Student Union, the cafeteria, will also remain open.
6) Teaching in courses or lectures, working in laboratories or technical work are not subject to the home office obligation, since it is not office work.
7) Team meetings, job interviews, appointment committee meetings and committee meetings are to be held online again as far as possible from now on, unless there are specific reasons in justified exceptions which make a meeting in presence necessary. All participants, including external visitors, must prove at least 3G status.
8) The Presidential Board has extended the application of the longstanding service agreement on workplace alternatives in this context beyond December 31, 2021 until March 31, 2022.
You may also continue to visit our Corona web pages at any time for information on the applicable pandemic-related employment or service regulations and all other University regulations regarding the handling of the Corona pandemic: www.leuphana.de/portale/coronavirus/beschaeftigte.
In addition, detailed information from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs regarding the Infection Protection Act and the Corona Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance can be found at www.bmas.de/DE/Corona/Fragen-und-Antworten/Fragen-und-Antworten-ASVO/faq-corona-asvo.html#doc89168596-e024-487b-980f-e8d076006499bodyText3.
With best regards
Christian Brei
Executive Vice President