Factsheet for measure
DE-2020-33/1152
–
Updated
– measures in Germany
Premium for hospital workers
COVID-19 Prämie für Klinikbeschäftigte
Background information
Hospital workers face strong constraints because of the pandemic and an above average risk of infections. Staff shortages, long working hours and a high work load of care workers in hospitals is a long standing problem. Whereas public hospitals are covered by public sector agreements concluded with either the municipal employers or with the 16 federal states, private hospitals settle company agreements, if at all.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ver.di reached several single-employer agreements on a COVID-19 premium.
Content of measure
Ver.di has been campaigning for a pay rise and better working conditions for hospital workers for a long time. Local pacts for better care (Lokale Bündnisse Pflege) call for better conditions in hospitals. Several hospitals in public ownership reacted by agreeing on a COVID-19 premium. The amount of the premium varies.
The first agreement was reached with a public hospital group in Baden-Württemberg. The employer agreed on paying a premium of €500 for three months and also to include service companies into the provision. Similar agreements were settled with companies in Berlin, Saxony and in some other federal states.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
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24 November 2021
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The new German government announced in their coalition agreement of November 2021 that there will be a second COVID-19 special payment for care workers in elderly and hospital care in the year 2022. To finance the measure the federal government would provide €1 billion in co-financing and set a framework in which payments of up to €3,000 will be exempted from tax duties and social security contributions. Eligibility criteria for employees are still under discussion. No concrete starting date for the measure has been announced yet.
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03 September 2020
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In September 2020, the public health insurance funds together with the German Hospital Society agreed on a COVID-19 special payment of up to 1000 EUR per employee (BMG 2020). The payment was co-financed by the health funds with 100 million EUR. Eligible for the financial support were hospitals with a certain number of COVID-19 patients. The special payment was eligible for care workers who directly worked with COVID-19 patients.
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Use of measure
No data. In total, the number of these single-employer ageements on premia for hospital care workers is very low.
This is why the public insurance funds together with the German Hospital Society (Deutsche Krankenhausgeselleschaft) - the interest organisation of hospitals - and the federal minister for health are now in debate over a scheme of publically funded premia scheme.
Contents
Target groups
Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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Social partners jointly
Company / Companies
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Employer
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
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No involvement
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Form
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Not applicable
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Not applicable
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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Only trade unions
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Main level of involvement: Company level
Involvement
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There is no collective bargaining structure for Germany's private hospital sector. This concerns private hospitals in public ownership, which are not covered by public sector CBAs.
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Employer organisations were not involved, only single employers (private hospitals). The agreements were individually settled between single employers and the United Services Union ver.di.
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The United Services Union ver.di pushed for the bonuses. Single employers are covering the cost of the premia.
Views and reactions
There is a broad consenus between employers and the United Services Union ver.di in support of the measure.
Sectors and occupations
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This case is sector-specific
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Economic area
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Sector (NACE level 2)
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Q - Human Health And Social Work Activities
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Q86 Human health activities
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This case is occupation-specific
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Occupation (ISCO level 2)
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Health associate professionals
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Health professionals
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Sources
