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THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection has issued advice for workers who are diagnosed with the Covid-19 coronavirus and those who may need to self-isolate as a precautionary measure.
The first case of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland was confirmed in a male patient from Scoil Chaitríona in Glasnevin, Dublin 9. He is currently receiving medical treatment.
The decision to close the school for two weeks was announced yesterday evening. Health officials have contacted the principal, staff, and parents or guardians of pupils.
As previously reported, the impact of self-isolation has caused concern for both employers and employees – with employers worried about staffing numbers, and employees uneasy about taking unpaid sick leave.
This evening, the Department of Social Protection issued advice for workers in relation to Covid-19. The advice is as follows:
People who are diagnosed with Covid-19
The Department said where an employee is diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus, normal workplace arrangements in respect of sick-absence should apply.
The employe 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, the Department said.
Employees diagnosed with Covid-19 can, as is the case of any other illness, apply for income support from the Department of Social Protection in the form of illness benefit based on social insurance contributions or supplementary welfare allowance based on a means test.
People who are not diagnosed with Covid-19 but who self-isolate
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.
A person who self-isolates in accordance with the up-to-date guidelines from the HSE but does not have a medical certificate from a medical practitioner, may apply for an income support in the form of supplementary welfare allowance.
People who are requested to stay at home by their employer
Anyone who is not advised to self-isolate in accordance with the up-to-date guidelines of the HSE, but is requested to stay at home by their employer as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19 can, in situations where the employer cannot continue to pay their wages, apply for income support in the form of a jobseeker payment or supplementary welfare allowance.
People who need to take time off work to care for a person affected by Covid-19
The Department noted that many employers can, and do, agree compassionate leave arrangements with staff who need to take short periods of time off to care for another person.
These include arrangements to enable employees to work remotely from home, to alter shift patterns, to work up time taken, or to bring forward annual leave entitlements from future work periods.
Where it’s not possible to make appropriate compassionate leave arrangements, employees can call on some statutory entitlements.
An employee is entitled to paid leave, known as ‘force majeure leave’, where they are urgently required to attend to the needs of a person who is 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.
Parents are entitled, with six weeks’ notice, to take up to 22 weeks unpaid parental leave to care for each child up to 12 years of age (16 years of age in the case of a child with a disability).
Parents are also entitled, with six weeks’ notice, to take parental leave of two weeks for each child under one year of age, born on or after 1 November 2019. Parents taking parents leave are eligible to apply for parents benefit from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
Employers are free to waive notice periods for parental/parents leave or to agree to provide paid leave as an alternative to parental/parents leave. Employers can also agree alternative leave/absence arrangements.
Trade union talks
Meanwhile, unions have called for talks with employers on how to handle the response to Covid-19.
Liam Berney of the the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) told RTÉ’s News at One that congress had been contacted by a number of workers concerned about the possible impact of the coronavirus on their incomes.
“At this early stage, it would be prudent for employers, unions and employees to sit down, discuss likely implications in their workplace if an active case arrived in their workplace, and to have in place arrangements that seek to protect, not only the business, but also seek to protect the workers, their health and safety, and their income,” Berney said.
“We believe that early dialogue is important and agreement is sought in circumstances where a person contracts the virus, and what are the implications for workers that may have been in contact with that person,” Mr Berney said.
In a statement today, ICTU general secretary Patricia King said:
“Employers must engage with staff and union representatives before decisions are taken regarding working arrangements as a result o the virus.”
Separately, Labour Party leadership candidate Alan Kelly has proposed bringing emergency legislation to the Dáil to deal with issues surrounding the Coronavirus.
“I have asked the Labour Party’s legal team to draft legislation protecting workers who may be impacted by the Coronavirus, specifically on the remuneration of workers who have to self-isolate and how we can use private medical facilities, particularly intensive care beds if needed. I intend to bring both pieces of legislation to the Dáil this Thursday,” Kelly said.
With reporting by Jesse Melia
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Every article is becoming repetitive a politician who hasn’t given a shite all year is suddenly outraged by something or other it’s almost as if there is a election on the horizon.
Denis Naughton has been trying to fix loopholes that sex offenders can take advantage of for over 2 years but he won’t get credit because he voted against Enda Kenny in the leadership battle & eventually left fg. He seems a decent politician.
Hi John,
The only person to believe there are any loopholes in the current legislation is Mr. Naughten himself. He is attempting to further his political career by going after those who are hated by the majority of people.
There are no loopholes in the laws, Ireland has some of the most robust sexual offender laws in the world.
Never mind, we’re getting calorie counts on beer bottles. Can’t have everything you know.
It’s obvious to me that Denis Naughten (whoever he is) cares greatly about this..otherwise he would have said nothing and I would continue to be blissfully unaware of his existence.
Just chop their danglers off then it won’t matter as much where they are.
You can’t… They have human rights! Which is strange as I don’t regard them as human
But what if they’re an 18 year old rapist?
why are they only following the ones with both hands tied,it’s the ones without there hands tied we should be worried about……
Castration for more than 2 offences.
No lock up for life
“A new report says that 18 registered sex offenders are living within walking distance of schools in Cork”.
Not all sex offenders are paedophiles.
But some probably are
Beat me to it.
@Paul
Look at the case of that girl who’s brother saved her
Why beside schools???
What about the sex offenders from the U.K. who are hiding here at the moment as well?
Hi Michael,
All current research shows that where someone lives has absolutely zero affect on either their rate of risk, or rate of re-offense. Restricting where people live actually has the opposite affect, and leads to increased risk.
Anyone subject to those laws in the UK become subject to the same in Ireland. Do you think an arbitrary change in the time will force offenders to comply?
I was referring to sex offenders who are here to escape the U.K. Police as in recent years the amount of news stories about this has been staggering, I was not blaming anyone lol.
Natanael, no way was I blaming any country as there are plenty of pedos here, I used the point to highlight the fact that criminals can cross into any country to escape their own police service normally to continue in their crime. My way to highlight an important point that seems missed in my view, I do that with other posts as well lol.
Mr. Naughten seems to want to further his political career on the back of sexual offenders – a very easy target. He talks on the subject without actually giving any factual evidence or information. For example, it has been shown that were an offender lives has absolutely no connection either with their level of risk or rate of recidivism. According to The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from a report of July 2015, the rate of recidivism for sexual offenders is less than 1%.
There are no loopholes within the monitoring of sexual offenders within Ireland. Ireland has one of the most robust systems in the entire world for dealing with this issue. On Mr. Naughtens point about “roam around the country for six days”, for an offender to comply with the current legislation they would have to stay at 60 different addresses within a one year period.
There are only a very limited number of countries in the world which even have sex offender registry. There have been zero documented cases where any form of sex offender registry has done anything positive for child protection, stopped any sexual crime, or reduced the already extremely low rate of re-offense.
Mr. Naughten would want to read up on all current research on the subject.
I dont think anyone has any issue with increased monitoring of high risk sex offenders, anything that keeps people safe is beneficial. But lets do whats right not just what makes the press happy. A sex offender living in a house or apartment overlooking a school is not right….but what difference does it make if they are living within 500 yards of a school or 50 miles? It makes NO difference at all! A sex offender who is motivated to offend isnt going to let distance stop him or her…they will hop on a bus or walk a few extra 100 yards. Not that there has ever ( as far as im aware ) been a case in Ireland where a stranger has entered a school and molested a child.
I think that sometimes the laws are changed to give the appearance of something being done rather than actually making a change. It wont cost the government anything to prevent sex offenders from living within half a mile of a school…so lets do it to make it appear that they are being tough on this crime. Even though it wont make the slightest bit of difference to the safety of our children. Whereas it WOULD cost a lot more money to provide the resources and extra gaurds to monitor high risk offenders which would make a difference.
The bottom line is that kids and women need to be protected. Let our politicians know that we want them to make laws that will actually have a positive effect, and not just pay lip service to it.
have your say