Health pass in Luxembourg companies: the sanctions revealed
Through Ninon Oget
Published on
With an incidence rate of 374 cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the last week of November 2021, the Luxembourg is indeed facing a new wave of Covid-19.
As a result, the government announced a new series of measures, including the corporate health pass. Until now, this was optional and at the customers discretion but from January 15, 2022, it will be mandatory.
“To give people time to be vaccinated”, explained the Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, before specifying that he was in discussion with the social partners to set the terms of implementation.
For example, these negotiations quickly established that no dismissal could take place because of the obligation of the health pass.
No health pass, no remuneration
Accompanied by the presidents of the three majority unions (OGBL, LCGB and CGFP) within the country as well as that of the Union of Luxembourg companies, the Minister of Labor, Dan Kersch, announced this Friday, December 3, 2021 that the terms of the health pass compulsory at work were defined.
Recourse to work remains subject to the regulatory framework negotiated between social partners. Apart from jobs that do not allow teleworking, each employee can perform teleworking in agreement with his employer or in accordance with a specific regime set out in a collective agreement or, where applicable, negotiated between the employer and the staff delegation.
Long awaited, the sanctions have been detailed. Of course, there will be no dismissal but non-remuneration will be possible : the employee who will not be able to work because of a missing health step must take leave otherwise, he will not be paid during his absence but the employee’s social contributions will be maintained.
For these employees, partial unemployment will be prohibited.
No canteen for employees only tested
Unlike leisure, this corporate health pass will require employees to be vaccinated, cured or tested negative for Covid-19. But as a reminder, the validity of PCR tests has been reduced from 72h to 48h in Luxembourg as well as from 48h to 24h for the certified antigenic method.
A constraint for unvaccinated employees and those awaiting their second dose. For the latter, they owe to five vouchers per week for free certified rapid antigen testing.
Be careful, however, “company canteens are subject to the 2G rule, that is to say access is exclusively reserved for people who have been vaccinated or cured”, explains the LCGB union.
Lists of vaccinated employees
In all cases, only one health pass check will take place daily at the start of labor. It will be provided by the employer or by an external service provider, for example.
On the other hand, the LCGB union specifies that a derogation from the legislation on data protection will allow companies to establish before January 15, 2022 lists of vaccinated or cured employees in order to avoid that they have to be checked daily ” .
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