Scorching heat may be a blessing on holiday – but at work it usually seems unbearable. In the office, employers have to cool down from a certain temperature: Does this also apply to the home office?
Raphael Lugowski, a lawyer specializing in labor law, told arbeitssicherheit.de about the obligations of employers towards employees: “Regardless [der Bereitstellung von Arbeitsmitteln] the employer remains responsible for occupational health and safety even in the case of home office […] responsible. He has to take appropriate precautions to ensure that the legal requirements are observed.” This suggests that employers actually have to provide fans for the home office in summer.
Employers must protect against dangerous “physical, chemical and biological influences”.
The legal requirements that Lugowski is talking about are laid down in the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG) and the Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV). Paragraph 5, Paragraph 1 of the ArbSchG states: “By assessing the risk associated with their work for the employees, the employer must determine which occupational safety measures are required.” In the same paragraph, “physical, chemical and biological effects” are listed as hazards, which can also be classified as heat. Paragraph 3 paragraph 1 ArbStättV continues: “According to the results of the risk assessment, the employer has measures to protect the employees in accordance with the regulations […] according to the state of the art, occupational medicine and hygiene.”
Expert: Basically, employers have to intervene at certain temperatures
According to these legal texts, Peter Meyer – also a specialist lawyer for labor law and a member of the labor law working group in the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV) – t-online according to the fact that one can in principle ask the employer for reimbursement of the costs for a fan in the home office: “From 30 degrees, the employer must intervene in any case,” says Meyer.
The only problem is the risk assessment: While the employer can easily carry out this in the company office, he is not allowed to enter the employee’s apartment unannounced and without the permission of all residents. This regulation goes back to the fundamental right of the inviolability of the home, which is laid down in Article 13 of the Basic Law (GG). Because the Basic Law stands above private, contractual clauses, formulations in the employment contract that would allow the employer access to the employee’s home are void and therefore invalid. So if employers do not directly assess the workplace in the home office or the employees refuse them access, the former usually have to rely on the risk assessment of the employees.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fan
Irrespective of the way in which the dangers in the workplace are assessed, employers are always obliged to ensure that their employees do not suffer any damage to their health, according to Meyer, according to t-online. This also means that solutions have to be found for temperatures above 30 degrees at the workplace. Whether the solution is a fan or, for example, shifting working hours to cooler hours depends on the individual case. That’s why you can’t say in general that employers have to provide a fan or reimburse the costs – but they have to ensure the health of their employees when it’s hot.
By the way: In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the home office spread rapidly due to legal regulations and this development could continue in the future. However, no one can be forced to work from home according to Article 13 of the Basic Law: “Working from home is still linked to the consent of the employee. A different definition of the contractual place of work requires in any case a corresponding labor law regulation between the employer and employee or a company agreement”, according to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on its website.
Olga Rogler / Editor finanzen.net