Federal Labour Minister Hubertus Hel has submitted an ordinance to the federal cabinet that is intended to implement the home office regulations for companies that have been discussed by the federal and state governments.

According to the ordinance, employers are to offer employees the option of working at home in the case of office work or comparable activities, if there are no compelling operational reasons for not doing so.

In the explanatory notes to the ordinance, the ministry speaks of an "obligation" to offer home office, "insofar as this is possible according to the operational circumstances".

Employers are legally bound to see where home office is possible and must then offer it to their employees, Heil said.

When asked how this should be monitored, he advised that employees should first talk to their employer or, in case of doubt, contact the works council and, in "external cases of conflict," the occupational health and safety authorities of the states. Only in case of doubt would the authorities check and in the "very worst case" fines were also possible.

However, that is not the main focus, the minister said. He spoke of deep interventions in the economic life of the country. "But these measures are necessary and much less restrictive than in other areas of society."

Translation: Mareike Graepel