Nurses and midwives will be paid if compelled to stay away from work and self-isolate as a precaution due to coronavirus, their trade union has said.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation told members on Monday evening that health service management had agreed that such absences would be considered to constitute special leave with pay.
Trade unions expect that the Department of Public Expenditure will issue guidance on dealing with staff in the public service affected by the virus in the coming days, possibly as early as Tuesday.
Informed sources said under a circular dating back to 1976 staff in the civil service who had enforced absences on account of contact with persons with infectious diseases “may be treated as [being on] special leave with pay”.
The trade union movement on Monday urged employers to engage with staff and their representatives to agree measures that would protect the health and safety of workers as well as their incomes arising from the outbreak.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) also called on the Workplace Relations Commission to become involved and broker an overall agreed response.
The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection said where an employee is diagnosed as being ill with Covid-19, normal workplace arrangements in respect of sick absence should apply.
“The employee should, subject to the latest advice from the HSE, be treated from a workplace perspective in the same manner as any member of staff who takes sick leave for any other reason.
“An employee who is advised or directed by a registered medical practitioner to self-isolate on the basis that they are a probable source of Covid-19 infection can, if their employer ceases to pay their wages, apply for income support from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This income support will be paid in the form of illness benefit based on social insurance contributions or supplementary welfare allowance based on a means test.
“A person who self-isolates in accordance with the up-to-date guidelines from the HSE but does not have a medical certificate, may apply for an income support in the form of supplementary welfare allowance.”
‘Force majeure leave’
The department said that an employee was entitled to paid leave, known as “force majeure leave”, where they are urgently required to attend to the needs of a person affected by an illness or injury, including an actual or probable case of Covid-19.
“The person to whom care is being provided must be “in a relationship of domestic dependency” with the employee. It is limited to a total of three days in a 12-month period or five days in a 36-month period. “
Ictu urged employers “to actively engage with staff and their representatives on any implications that might arise in their workplace”.
Maeve McElwee, director of employer relations at the business group Ibec, said where staff needed to take time off as a result of the coronavirus, employers would look at opportunities to facilitate this in “practical, sensitive and sensible ways” .
“For some there will be options, perhaps to work remotely. For others to work flexibly, perhaps to change shifts.
“Then [they could] also look possibly at things such as taking annual leave or a period of unpaid leave, or where that is not possible to take time out and work that time back later on.”
The group representing small and medium businesses, Isme, said if employers sent staff home then the personnel would have to be paid.
Isme chief executive Neil McDonnell said otherwise the issue of payment would be determined by the contract between the employee and the individual business.
