On Thursday, November 28, the Spanish Government approved a “paid climate leave” of four days to avoid traveling in the event of an alert linked to a meteorological risk, almost a month after the floods that left 230 dead in the southeast of the country.
This new system, adopted by the Council of Ministers as part of a package of risk prevention measures, aims to “adapt labor legislation” Spanish in context “climate emergency”explained the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, on public television RTVE.
It will allow workers to benefit from four days of vacation, paid by the State, in the event of an alert issued by the authorities, whether “from a city council, a region or the central government”continued M.me Díaz, figure of the far-left Sumar party. For the moment, the minister has not provided more details about the type of alert to which this system refers, nor about the possible conditions that must be met by employees in order to benefit from it.
“No worker should take risks”
Several companies have been criticized after the floods that devastated the southeast of Spain on October 29, for having asked their employees to remain at work despite the red alert issued by the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet).
They, in turn, blamed the authorities, accused of not having informed them sufficiently and of having sent alerts to the population’s mobile phones in the early afternoon, several hours after the ‘Aemet’s notice. From now on, “from the moment an authority, whatever it may be, indicates that there is a risk in travel, employees must refrain from going to work”detailed Mme Díaz, for whom “no worker should take risks”.
If the maximum duration of this new climate permit cannot exceed four days, companies will have the possibility, after this period, to resort to partial unemployment regimes, which already exist in cases of force majeure, according to the executive.
According to specialists, “The cost of these types of events could double by 2050”recalled the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, at the end of the Council of Ministers, during which a new aid package of 2.3 billion euros was adopted for the victims of the catastrophe. In this context, “We must continue to advance in terms of mobilization, financing and investment to adapt and be more resilient to these types of events” AND “minimize the impact”he added.
