Companies often wait months for reimbursement of wage costs in quarantine cases
Hairdressers are also affected by the quarantine ordered by employees. But the reimbursements for the wages that were still paid are faltering
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According to a WELT AM SONNTAG survey, the federal states often need several months to process applications from companies for reimbursement of wage costs if quarantine is ordered. Business associations complain about the long deadlines.
UCompanies often have to wait months for their employees’ wages to be reimbursed in the event of quarantine or pandemic childcare being ordered. This was the result of a WELT AM SONNTAG survey of the responsible authorities in the individual countries. “Compensation applications are generally processed according to the date of receipt,” explains the Darmstadt regional council responsible for Hesse.
Applications from May are currently being processed in the country. In Bavaria, the processing time for applications is sometimes eight to ten months. “In some government districts there are very high applications,” explains the Ministry of Health. The national average is six months processing time.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, companies need even longer staying power. “For online applications there are around eight months between the application and the decision, and around ten months for paper applications,” explains the State Office for Social Affairs. According to the Ministry of Health, this period could be shortened in Brandenburg through “technical and organizational measures” – “to eight months”. Hamburg and Saxony-Anhalt give an average processing time of five months.
Business associations complain about the long deadlines. “The companies made advance payments and of course continued to pay their wages despite the pandemic-related loss of work,” says Hans-Joachim Wunderlich, General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chemnitz.
The sums involved are high. Since the beginning of the year alone, the federal states have reimbursed more than 835 million euros, according to the WELT AM SONNTAG survey.
The health authorities have usually imposed a quarantine lasting several days for people infected with corona and for contact persons. According to Section 56 of the Infection Protection Act, companies have a right to reimbursement. Employees who have to look after their children due to official school closings have also been included since the outbreak of the pandemic. Since November, however, employers have only received money back, with a few exceptions, if the employees concerned have been vaccinated.
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