More and more employers want, for their own protection, for the protection of other employees, but also possible customers or patients, that all employees get vaccinated and preferably also the booster vaccination.
To make it easier for employees, the vaccination is organized within the company. For this purpose, employers either select the company doctor who has been working in the company for a long time or ask an experienced doctor to spend a day in the company equipped with sufficient vaccine to vaccinate all those willing to be vaccinated. It may be that some employees experience significant side effects as a result of the vaccination. Two problems then arise:

1. is it an occupational accident and
2. the employer may then be liable.
3. an occupational accident can certainly exist if the vaccination is offered and also worked towards, if there is an increased risk to the employees due to their activities, a specific vaccination recommendation has been issued by the STIKO and the vaccination is not only intended to protect the employees themselves but also to ensure the overall functioning of the company. If the employees who were vaccinated in the company then fall ill immediately afterwards and a vaccination damage is confirmed, some courts have assumed an occupational accident.

2 Employers, on the other hand, are not liable. They have carefully selected the doctor who vaccinated and thus did not intentionally create a source of danger.

Corona equals occupational accident?
The social courts have recognized an infection with the Corona virus as an occupational accident under very narrow conditions. This has been met with incomprehension, especially in the literature, since the courts have previously rejected the occupational accident in the case of a flu infection in the company. However, in order to assume an occupational accident, the employee must show that the infection occurred exclusively at the workplace. This can be extremely problematic in numerous cases. If you go home from work and your school-age children are waiting for you there, or if you possibly go shopping or even meet up with friends, it is not possible to prove that the infection could only have occurred at work.
With this in mind, employers should also take timely steps to ensure that their employees are protected. Be it by recommending and promoting vaccinations, or by allowing employees to work from home or by providing each employee with his or her own office space. In theory, this usually sounds very simple and also logical, but not everything can be implemented in practice. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Claudia Frank
Specialist for labor and tax law