Some payments from employers are protected against garnishment. To do this, certain criteria must be met. The case of a kitchen help from Lower Saxony is now the concern of the highest German labor judges.
According to a decision by the Federal Labor Court, corona premiums may not be seized. A voluntary corona special payment that employers transfer to their employees is a hardship allowance and is therefore protected, the highest German labor court in Erfurt ruled in a case from Lower Saxony (Az.: 8 AZR 14/22).
So far, there has only been one stipulation for the care sector, in which the legislature had expressly stipulated that corona premiums could not be attached. For all other, previously unregulated areas, the Federal Labor Court has now provided clarity with its judgment.
However, the purpose of the corona premium must be “to compensate for an actual difficulty in performing work” and its amount must not exceed the usual scope, the judges explained. According to the legal rules, the payment of corona premiums up to an amount of 1500 euros was tax- and duty-free – but only until March 2022.
The case from Lower Saxony was about a restaurant operator who had paid a kitchen help and counter worker a corona bonus of 400 euros in addition to their wages. She filed for personal bankruptcy in 2015. The responsible insolvency administrator was of the opinion that at least part of the premium could be seized. The lower courts had also denied the attachment.
Some payments made by employers are fully or partially protected from debt garnishment. Accordingly, dirt and hardship allowances cannot be attached if they do not exceed the usual scope. The Federal Labor Court ruled that the employer wanted to use the service to compensate for a handicap that actually existed with the kitchen worker and that the amount of the bonus did not exceed the usual scope.
