24 hours after informing her by SMS that she was exempt from going to work after a work stoppage, María Elena received this Thursday another SMS from the cleaning company for which she works, Zaintzen, in which she was informed that she had to return home. works as a cleaner at the Mendigoiti public school in Pamplona. Accompanied by her husband and a representative of the LAB union, María Elena traveled in a wheelchair to school, even though she was unable to work due to her health (she suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and has a rate of 49% disability) recognized by the Navarrese Health Service-Osasunbidea) thus prevents it.
“I came to register because otherwise the company would fire me and I would find myself without resources,” lamented María Elena at the school gate, where a dozen people gathered by the LAB union to denounce their situation. “I can’t do anything, at home I go from bed to sofa and from sofa to wheelchair to walk with my husband, the pain prevents me from doing anything else.”
The company claims that after receiving a fitness report from the company’s health monitoring service and given that the National Social Security Institute (INSS) did not grant her permanent disability, María Elena is required to return to work after receiving a medical discharge. She believes that the company tried to avoid the demonstration planned for Wednesday by delaying its incorporation by one day.
Once inside the school, María Elena met with a representative of the company and the LAB union to try to resolve her situation, as she claims she cannot work. “They tell me to work two hours standing and rest for five minutes sitting. “How am I going to do this if I can’t get out of the wheelchair?” he denounced.
At 56 years old, María Elena suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and has a 49% disability recognized by the Navarrese Health Service, which prevents her from performing movements such as pushing the cleaning cart or cleaning classrooms and the school corridors. An August 2022 medical report states that the majority of his diagnoses are “chronic in nature” and that they represent “a very significant limitation for most daily activities”, as well as “living with constant pain and fundamental repercussion also on an emotional level. level.”
Another medical report from Osasunbidea dated November 7, 2022 states that “for approximately two months, the patient has required, due to her underlying symptoms, a wheelchair to perform movements of more than 10 to 15 minutes walking”. In addition, this pain, added to the chronic fatigue from which she suffers, forces her to spend a large part of the day lying in bed.
However, this Thursday he had to return to work at the Mendigoiti school in Pamplona because his permanent disability was not recognized by the INSS and because he had a favorable aptitude report from the surveillance service health of the company.
