Can the employer control the home office?

Labor and data protection

Berlin (dpa / tmn) – In the discussion about home office, the aspect of trust always plays a role. While supervisors in the office keep an eye on everyone, in the home office the question arises: How do the employees actually work there? And can the employer control that?

“The employer’s control options in the home office are limited,” explains Alexander Bredereck, specialist lawyer for labor law from Berlin. The inviolability of the home is fundamentally protected, so the employer cannot usually request entry.

Occupational health and safety creates control obligations

On the other hand, employers also have certain control obligations. These result, among other things, from the fact that the employer must ensure compliance with work and data protection in the home office. But even that is only possible within the framework of what is permissible. “For these reasons, too, the employer only comes into the apartment with the employee’s permission,” said Bredereck. He then has to provide suitable equipment and instruct the employee accordingly.

“In practice, many complicated questions are settled simply because the employee is interested in working in the home office and therefore voluntarily accommodates the employer,” says Bredereck.

Observe the personal rights of employees

When it comes to other forms of control, the employer must pay particular attention to the employee’s personal rights. “Against this background, checks will only be possible to a limited extent,” explains the specialist lawyer. The Federal Labor Court, for example, has only considered the use of keyloggers that log entries on the PC keyboard to be permissible in the event of suspicion of a particularly serious breach of duty.

Even detectives may only be used under these conditions. “Employers who overdo it with the control run the risk of making themselves liable for damages,” says the specialist lawyer. In addition, heavy fines from the data protection authorities can threaten.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201023-99-52643 / 2