Health Care Workers in Isolation to Get Full Salary After All

Members of the medical staff who were exposed to the novel coronavirus in the workplace, as a result of which they were placed in isolation or are self-isolating, will instead of the announced 65% of their monthly salary receive the full amount. This decision by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs was preceded by a recommendation from the Government of the Republic of Serbia on April 2, that all employees infected with coronavirus or placed in isolation due to potential risk, be paid the full salary.

A Ministry press release reads that this particularly pertains to health care workers:

“That primarily pertains to our medical doctors, medical staff, the army and police.”

The Ministry adds that the absence of health care workers will be proved by sanitary inspectors’ decisions or doctors’ reports on temporary inability to work, i.e. medical certificates.

Medical workers of the Niš Clinical Center have called journalists of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) to say that they have received their full salary.

CINS recalls that last week it learned from Clinical Center Niš employees that they had received information from the management of the health care institution, that all who had been ordered to self-isolate would have their salary reduced by 35%. The reason for that, Clinical Center Director Zoran Radovanović explained, is that they are registered as being on sick leave, and according to the law are entitled to the average salary reduced by one third.

Zoran Ilić, president of the Trade Union of Health Care and Social Welfare Nezavisnost, told CINS at the time that such measures were applied nationwide. Ilić added that the union had prepared a response to the government, if health care workers did not receive the full salary.

To solve this systemic problem, Ilić added, Nezavisnost sent a memo to the competent institutions.