The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced this Thursday her intention to address a temporary disability reformsick leave, to provide more flexibility in certain cases allowing people to return to work.
At a breakfast hosted by Nueva Economía Forum, Saiz explained that: of “volunteering and the guarantee of health and safety”there will be cases in which some people on sick leave will be able to return to work. Saiz gave as an example the treatments against cancer or cases of pluriactivitywhere sick leave may prevent you from working in one profession but not the other. The minister compared this reform with that addressed in the area of pensions to give more options to those who wish to make work and retirement compatible.
Give more flexibility (…) other than being on sick leave or being on sick leave”, explained Saiz, who stressed that the reform will be addressed with the creation of a working group and in the framework of social dialogue and “from consensus” to adapt temporary incapacity to the new reality The creation of a working group on sick leave was provided for in the last agreement on pensions with the aim of analyzing the. he evolution of temporary disability and its benefits, an issue that worries social agents and the government, remember inclusion.
Following this announcement, the Secretary of Social Protection and Public Policies of CCOO, Carlos Bravo, avoided evaluating an approach “which has not yet been put on the table” and has spoiled how such change could move forward. Bravo highlighted the increase in sick leave and temporary disability expenses in an older labor market and also recalled the investment gap in health which, in some cases, delays diagnoses and treatments. “No one should miss work one day more than necessary, but not one day less either,” he said in statements to the media.
“Me raises a lot of doubts“, recognized the Secretary of Institutional Policy and Territorial Policies of the UGT, Cristina Estévez. Estévez also spoiled the way of presenting this debate in this way and called on the government to bring a concrete proposal to the table dialogue as soon as possible. “Our concern is that workers receive care, appropriate medical care at the right time,” he stressed.
New dialogue table with independents
Alongside the issue of temporary incapacity, the minister announced that next Monday, October 7, a new social dialogue table on self-employed workers continue to progress in the new real income contribution system. Regarding the current regulation to configure the transition of certain mutual societies to the self-employed workers’ regime, Saiz insisted on the fact that work was underway to reach an agreement. Saiz also recalled that the reserve fund, called the pension piggy bank, will end the year with more than 9 billion, exceeding initial forecasts, and that the legislature will end with more than 25 billion.
