The Ministry of Social Security wants to ban the term “flexible sick leave” from its proposed reform of temporary disability (work leave). Following the words of Minister Elma Saiz who recommended relaxing temporary incapacity, Social Security explained that the approach is limited to “progressive reintegration” into employment “once recovery has taken place” and therefore medical discharge. is carried out. , explained the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, after the first meeting with unions and employers on this subject.
After the controversy generated and the anger of the unions for linking the notions of “flexibility” and “voluntariness” to sick leave, the Secretary of State clarified the approach of Social Security regarding this reform.
Borja Suárez declared that this “progressive reintegration” into the workplace is offered to patients on sick leave of a certain duration (medium or long) who, “once recovery has been achieved”, are released. Today, these workers are returning to work under the same conditions as before, while the ministry’s approach is that they could return “gradually”.
Concretely, the ministry once again cited the example of cancer patients, who in some cases have difficulty returning to work 100% after completing their treatment.
Unions have been very critical of the minister’s initial approach. Carlos Bravo, Secretary of Public Policy and Social Protection of CCOO, celebrated that the proposal for “flexible” sick leave was rejected “by all” the agents present at the table, including businessmen. “It was frivolous and irresponsible,” he said.
Cristina Estévez, Secretary of Institutional Policy and Territorial Policies of the UGT, celebrated the “change of language” of the Ministry. “The Secretary of State is already talking about the moment when a worker is on leave,” Estévez emphasized, while specifying that these are still “just words”, which is why he urged the ministry to present its proposal in writing to put an end to “anxiety”. and the “social alarm” generated following Saiz’s words.
We no longer talk about “volunteering” either.
The Secretary of State for Social Security also eliminated another of the most conflicting terms from the initial approach: mentions of “voluntariness” when applying this greater flexibility in terms of work stoppage.
Borja Suárez clarified that, if this “gradual reintegration” into work takes place, “it must be medically supervised”. “It is the doctors of public health systems who must determine to what extent these types of formulas” are more favorable to the reintegration of patients, he stressed in response to questions from the media on the voluntary nature of the measure, as he pointed it out. the ministry initially.
Carlos Bravo and Cristina Estévez reaffirmed that “volunteering” does not exist in labor relations, with a great imbalance of power between workers and employees.
The ministry is committed to bringing this proposal to the social dialogue table, with support from the experience of other countries with similar approaches. Borja Suárez said that there are situations in which there can be a kind of social security benefit as part of a gradual return to the labor market, which will be combined with part-time wages, although there is still no specific proposal from the ministry in this regard. .
