Are people ready today not to come to work sick?

2023-07-08 12:00:19

The procedure for reimbursement for sick leave has changed: from July 1, 2023, changes in the legislation came into force, which returned the procedure for compensation for sick leave, which was in effect until January 1, 2021.
This means that for the first three days of sick leave, opened from July 1, the self-responsibility of the employee is valid, that is, they are not paid. From the fourth to the eighth day, the employer pays the indemnity, and from the ninth day, the health insurance fund pays the indemnity.

In your opinion, are people ready today not to come to work sick?

Andrey Zaitsev,
leader of the trade union of Narva power engineers:

– In general, people generally go on sick leave with great reluctance – when they are completely pinned down. And earlier, during the pandemic, when the old system was returned, people were still reluctant to take sick leave: although sick leave was paid from the first day, it was not one hundred percent.

And now even more so: three days are not paid at all. Therefore, in my opinion, it is clear: in the current economically difficult situation, people will go to work sick. And there is nowhere to go from this.
In general, they made some kind of “closed cooperative” out of our medicine: there are many months of queues for appointments with doctors, we pay and pay money to the Health Insurance Fund, and in the end we didn’t even “earn money” for a full-fledged sick leave.

Tatyana Krivolap,
Deputy Head of the Narva Central Library:

– In my opinion, it specifically depends on the person, his age, income, work, lifestyle. Very individual! Someone takes care of himself and takes care of his health and will not attach much importance to what he will lose in salary in three days. And someone may have a difficult economic situation – loans, leasing, every cent counts.

It is good if a person has such a specific work that he can work remotely. However, not every institution has such an opportunity.
In any case, if a person works with people, he, of course, must think not only about himself, but also about his colleagues and clients.
I want to say that from the very beginning of the coronavirus, our employees showed great conscientiousness, having felt unwell, painful sensations, they stayed at home.

Alexander Dmitriev,
Board Member of Smart Mööbel OÜ:

– I think that in the current situation, in most cases, people will strive to return to work as quickly as possible and, alas, not fully recovered. The saddest thing is that this will hit kindergartens and schools as much as possible. I know from the example of my family where children grow up.

I also noticed that few people get sick and are on sick leave for more than 7 days. So the participation of the Health Insurance Fund, consider, is reduced to nothing. Although we do and make contributions there. Where is the payoff?
In my opinion, the situation is further aggravated by the fact that, for example, in Narva it will soon be a huge problem to get an appointment with a family doctor. Simply because their number is getting smaller and smaller. Many are retiring and there is no replacement. So once again you will think, while your legs are still wearing, is it worth it to rush to the sick leave.

Bronislava Pupkiewicz,
Sales Manager:

– At the moment, this problem is not very relevant, but I am sure that with the advent of cold weather and seasonal illnesses, it will gain “weight”. I understand that the government is looking for ways to compensate for the budget deficit, but whether it is worth doing this at the expense of sick leave compensation is a big question for me.

Trying not to lose wages, workers will come to work unhealthy and “share” illnesses with colleagues, and this, in turn, will hypothetically increase costs both for the employer, who is forced to look for and pay for replacement personnel, and for the state – in the form of paying more the number of sick leave.
Based on professional experience, I would not count on self-responsibility. The more time passes since the end of the coronavirus epidemic, the more the situation returns to normal.

The post Are people ready these days not to come to work sick? first appeared on gazeta.ee.