The Ministry of Labor insists on a message this first Monday after the shock of the DANA disaster: “If your safety is in danger, do not go to work”. The department led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz is preparing a regulation with a set of measures for work in the face of the emergency, as well as aid to independent Social Security workers. From the first hour, the Labor Party reiterates four reasons which justify the absence of people affected by DANA from the workplace.
Yolanda Díaz’s department explains that the main objective is “to avoid travel”, both because of the possible danger for those affected, and in case these make cleaning and maintenance tasks difficult due to the disaster.
Thus, “remote work will be the preferred form of organization”, a priority right to teleworking that the ministry will soon regulate and which, according to Labor sources to elDiario.es this weekend, will have “retroactive effects”.
The four “excused absences”
However, teleworking is not always an option. “If this is not possible, you are exempt from going to work,” says the ministry, which broadcasts the following four “justified absences” of people affected by DANA.
1) When travel may pose a danger to the safety and health of workers or interfere with rescue and recovery efforts in affected areas, provided that teleworking is not possible.
2) When workers have to care for their missing loved ones or deal with their death.
3) When, following the loss of their housing or their possessions, they cannot go to work.
4) When, due to the closure of schools, residences or public services in general, they must face family care needs.
“Shooting will be prohibited”
The Ministry of Labor insists on a second message: “It will be prohibited to dismiss people who did not come to work due to any of the situations indicated. »
As has already happened during the COVID pandemic, Yolanda Díaz’s team is leaning towards the idea of ”no layoffs”. That is to say, strengthening regulations against possible reprisals against affected workers who do not go to work due to the emergency.
“Any adverse consequences to the exercise of absence rights will be void,” they argue at Labor. Although the ministry does not specify when the measure will be approved, it reiterates that it will have retroactive effects to now cover workers.
