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by c4mpute 1013 days ago
Absence is reason to withhold payment in Germany, you can only expect continued payment if you are absent because you are ill (and then only for a certain period). There are some provisions like having to pay out leftover holidays and overtime before stopping payments altogether, but payment is contingent on really working in general.

Note that this is different from ending employment: If you are in jail, only an extended length of absence (usually 2 years) or a work-related crime is reason for dismissal. If you are in jail for 23 months you'll keep your job usually, you are just not getting paid.

1 comments

BGB 616: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bgb/__616.html

> Der zur Dienstleistung Verpflichtete wird des Anspruchs auf die Vergütung nicht dadurch verlustig, dass er für eine verhältnismäßig nicht erhebliche Zeit durch einen in seiner Person liegenden Grund ohne sein Verschulden an der Dienstleistung verhindert wird.

The key terms here are “verhältnismäßig nicht erhebliche Zeit” and “ohne Verschulden”. That means that if you’re absent a relatively short time (usually compared to the duration of the employment and the notice period) and without being at fault for the absence, you get paid.

There’s a lot of interpretation here: for example if your bus is late, you’re responsible (you could have taken an earlier bus), if there’s an announced strike, you’re still at fault - you knew before etc. The cause must also lie in your person specifically - if you’re stuck in traffic with hundreds of other employees due to an accident, the paragraph does not apply. If you’re missing out on work because you were involved in that accident, it does.

But being imprisoned without having committed a crime is very unlikely to be considered a fault of the employee.

Your work contract or collective bargaining agreement may modify or specify where this paragraph is applicable. No legal advice, not a lawyer,…

> But being imprisoned without having committed a crime is very unlikely to be considered a fault of the employee.

I would (without being a lawyer and without having a case to cite) suspect that in those cases it would be considered to be the fault of the employee. In many, if not all cases, they had prior arrests, indictments and some were even found guilty, yet announced further blockades. I guess to a judge, that should make it their fault.

> Your work contract or collective bargaining agreement may modify or specify where this paragraph is applicable.

That might very well be the case, since actually many protesters are being employed as protesters: https://www.stern.de/gesellschaft/letzte-generation--so-viel...

You have to be very careful with the word suspect here. No crime has been committed, not even alleged. The allegations are that the arrested may in the future cause disruptions - it’s currently even unclear whether these acts are crimes, misdemeanors or even public demonstrations and as such protected by law and the constitution. Legal opinions and court decisions are all over the place.

The jail time is even more problematic given that the acts that the imprisoned may commit in the future are not punishable by prison time in practically all cases.

(As a side note: I would also be extraordinarily careful citing an article in the Stern, which cites allegations that the Welt published, without having at least a second source that confirms it)

Most reasons in §14PAG for preventative arrest include a crime or misdemeanor that has been committed and will likely be repeated, or the proven announcement or planning of such an offense. So most will be suspects in the literal sense, otherwise they wouldn't be in preventative arrest: http://www.lexsoft.de/cgi-bin/lexsoft/justizportal_nrw.cgi?x...

Road blockades are very often judged to be coercion, "Nötigung", a crime according to §240 StGB. Repeat offenders in this matter have been sentenced to some jail time: https://www.merkur.de/deutschland/kleber-aktivisten-letzte-g...

Further sources for your side note: https://www.merkur.de/welt/verdienst-klima-krise-kleber-geha... https://www.businessinsider.de/wirtschaft/letzte-generation-... https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/letzte-generation-akt... https://www.magdeburger-news.de/?c=20221228093058

Oh, and the best source, their own wiki: https://wiki.letztegeneration.org/de/%C3%B6ffentlich/allgeme...