Home office regulation fixed for 2021

New contributions:

As of April 1, 2021, clear rules have been laid down for employees and employers for working from home. We summarize the most important regulations for you and provide an overview of the effects and changes in the personnel cloud.

In principle, a new legal basis was created for the home office. No separate home office law was drafted, but rather amendments were made to numerous laws such as labor law, liability law and employee protection.

The most important home office regulations

Working from home remains a matter of agreement

Both sides, i.e. employer and employee, must mutually agree to work from home.

Company agreement regulates home office

In companies where there is a works council, there should be a works agreement for the introduction and regulation of home office. Important and specific rules such as "Who can work from home?", "To what extent?", "What work equipment will be provided?" or "What reimbursement of expenses will be paid?" should be agreed.

Place of work

According to the new legal regulation, a home office exists if work is carried out "in the home". In principle, this refers to the employee's home. As the term "home" is broadly defined, this also includes any secondary residences or the home of a close relative or partner. A workplace in a public coworking space or café, lake, park, clubhouse, etc. is not considered a home office.

Work equipment and office supplies

All necessary work equipment must be provided by the employer. Employees are only entitled to reimbursement of expenses if they use their own work equipment (own private laptop, private cell phone, etc.). Employers can and should cover other costs incurred, such as electricity, heating and work furniture. These costs can also be reimbursed in the form of a lump sum (e.g. through a company agreement).

Labor law, employee protection, liability

All provisions of the Working Hours Act, the Rest Periods Act and the applicable provisions of the Employee Protection Act also apply in the home office. Working hours and agreed overtime and extra hours apply in the same way as in the office. Furthermore, the employer is obliged to ensure that the workplace at home is ergonomically designed and that health and safety issues have been clarified.

Additional information on the home office regulations can be found here.

Effects and changes in the personnel cloud

Wrong reason "Teleworking (20)" becomes home office

Due to the current situation and to make a clear distinction, the error reason "Teleworking (20)" has now been renamed "Home office". We will also provide a new teleworking error reason.

Definitions of terms:

Teleworking:  "Performance of work using information technology within the framework of an employment contract, where the work (...) is regularly or occasionally performed outside this facility." (Source: European Framework Agreement of the Social Partners 2002)

Home office: Home office is deemed to exist pursuant to §18c para. 2 AVRAG if the employee performs work at home. It is therefore a sub-form of telework, as localized to the employee's place of residence. The Working Hours Act and SV law apply here.

New "mobile working" error reason

To make it easier to distinguish between working from home and teleworking, there is now a new reason for mobile working (376). Mobile working is not tied to the place of residence, so it is completely location-independent. The Labor Act and SV law do not apply here.

Calculation method for home office

It is now important to distinguish when a home office day is considered a home office.

The following therefore applies to us:
Home office + doctor = home office day
Home office + official travel = home office day
Home office + vacation = home office day
Home office + time compensation = home office day

Home office + business trip = NO home office day
Home office + presence = NO home office day
Home office + business trip = NO home office day
Home office + active or passive travel times = NO home office day
Home office + productive misconduct = NO home office day

Evaluation report

We have created a new evaluation of the monthly accounts. You can find the evaluation under the menu item "Management" - "Overview of monthly absence accounts". In this evaluation you will also find the column for home office days.