2024-07-23 15:28:02
He said that currently the employer pays for two sick days in Lithuania, five days in Estonia, and eight days in Latvia.
LDDK believes that the Lithuanian model would be the most suitable for Latvia. At the same time, he is aware that the transition to two-day payment by the employer could be a very big leap. Therefore, there has been discussion about moving to five days, which must be paid by the employer.
According to him, in 2023, employers in Latvia paid 4.2 million incapacity for work, but the average duration of incapacity for work was 7.3 days.
“Our main narrative is that the state should take more responsibility,” Gorks emphasized.
He emphasized that LDDK has never encouraged sick people to go to work. According to him, as the state assumes more responsibility, it would also have more motivation to develop monitoring mechanisms and make other changes. “Currently, if the employer covers the lion’s share of the sick leave, the state may be lax about making relevant changes,” said the director general of LDDK.
LETA already wrote that, as the discussions on the changes in the payment of incapacity for work continue, the Ministry of Economy (EM) is proposing to reduce compensation for incapacity for work, and the Ministry of Welfare (ML) is also ready for such a discussion.
Currently, employees are not paid for the first day of incapacity for work, on the second and third days the employer pays no less than 75% of the income, and from the fourth to the ninth day – no less than 80%. If the illness continues, the state takes over the payment of the benefit.
The EM suggests that the first day would not be paid, as before, but that 60% of the salary would be paid to the employees on the second and third day. From the fourth to the eighth day, 70% of the salary would be paid, and from the ninth day – 75%.
2024-07-23 15:28:02