The Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, asked workers on Wednesday not to go to work in areas on red alert due to the storm, such as Malaga or Tarragona. The preferred organization is teleworking and employees can take paid leave for security reasons.
The latest royal decree with measures due to the effect of DANA provides, for legal purposes, the possibility of requesting work permits paid by the company without returning the hours of absence in cases where the disaster prevents the access to the work area, there is no possibility of teleworking or due to death of family members, rescue or cleaning work.
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) still maintains extreme risk warnings (red) in areas of Malaga and Tarragona due to locally heavy and persistent precipitation which can be accompanied by thunderstorms, or even become torrential.
“We are on red alert and so you should not take risks, you do not have to go to work,” Díaz said in a message to the halls of Congress on Wednesday morning. The vice president explained that the risk is not only individual, but that going to work in situations like the one that recently occurred in Valencia “also endangers society collectively.”
Thus, Díaz reiterated his message and asked those affected “not to go to work”, while recalling that Absences from their position will be compensated by salary and contributions.. In this sense, there is a ban on dismissal: it will not be justifiable and, in any case, the employee must be reinstated.
The royal decree on work measures expressly includes remote work as a preferred organization of activity faced with possible bad weather due to the storm which followed the disaster two weeks ago. Through the “Mecuida” plan, it allows possibility of reducing and readjusting the working day. Leave the rest of the specific cases in the hands of the “good faith” of companies and workers when it comes to reorganizing work to avoid risks.
