Health workers temporarily derogated from holidays

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has issued instructions on which persons employed in the healthcare and social welfare sector may be subject to temporary derogations from the provisions of the Annual Holidays Act, the Working Hours Act and the Employment Contracts Act.

The government issued a decree on temporary derogations on Monday and it will be in force until May 13, said an official press release.

The introduction of these exceptional measures requires that such measures are necessary because of the coronavirus epidemic.

The objective is to ensure that a sufficient number of personnel work in the healthcare and social welfare services during the virus epidemic, thereby ensuring that the functional capacity of these services matches the demands of coronavirus epidemic.

The instructions of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health contain a list of the healthcare and social welfare services and the related support services, whose employees may, if necessary, be subject to the derogations.

They may be applied to employees working in both public and private healthcare and social welfare services.

The ministry emphasises that these exceptional measures may not compromise the health and safety of employees at work. The employer must make sure that the workload is evenly distributed and that the employee has an opportunity to recover from the stress caused by work.