If the company has to close due to an official measure, the company bears the economic risk. The employee is entitled to continued payment of wages, even if this can place a heavy burden on the employer. However, due to his duty of loyalty, the employee may be obliged to make up the lost working hours without additional compensation. If the company closes voluntarily –for fear of a pandemic but without official instructions – the employer is also obliged to continue paying wages. In this case, however, the employee cannot be obliged to make up the lost working hours without additional compensation. However, the employee must take into account what he has saved due to the prevention of work performance or what he has acquired or intentionally failed to acquire by working elsewhere. If the employee is prevented from performing their work following a private vacation, this is an impediment attributable to the employee. The employee is free to compensate for the loss of salary through vacation or overtime, but the absence remains unpaid. The employer is therefore not obliged to continue paying wages. After a business trip, the case is different. This is an incapacity that is not attributable to the employee. In this case, the prevention falls within the employer’s sphere of risk, which is why the employer is obliged to continue to pay wages in the event of absence after a business trip. If the employee is ill with the virus, the employer is still obliged to continue to pay wages. Whether this loss can be specified in an existing daily sickness benefits insurance policy must be checked in detail (the contractual conditions of the providers vary). In principle, the entitlement to insurance benefits begins at the start of the incapacity for work. If the employer releases its employees from work due to protective measures, the obligation to continue to pay wages cannot be passed on to the daily sickness benefits insurer. If employees have to look after their children due to school closures and are therefore unable to work through no fault of their own, the employer must pay their salary for a limited period of time. This is usually a maximum of three days. During this time, parents must make every effort to organize alternative childcare.