Histadrut opposes that workers who entered isolation will be deducted from their holisay days

The Histadrut opposes the request of employers' organizations to recognize the stay of workers who were required to enter the insulation as a free holiday. With the spread of the Corona epidemic, the Ministry of Health demanded that Israelis returning from certain destinations abroad or who were next to a patient with illness, enter home isolation, and employees were guaranteed that the isolation would be recognized as an illness.
Employers 'organizations have petitioned the High Court demanding that the stay in solitary confinement be recognized as an unpaid leave for employees to avoid paying sick pay. Now the Histadrut wants to join the legal process to protect workers' rights
The Histadrut filed an application as a respondent to a petition filed by the High Court of Employers' Organizations in which they sought to define a stay of workers in isolation according to state requirements, as free leave (sick leave) and not as sick days. For employees, and for the PSA - no.
The Histadrut sought to join the procedure, in order to be a voice for the workers: "Since the receipt of the petition may have far-reaching implications for the tens of thousands of workers to whom the isolation order applies, the workers should be allowed to make their voice heard through the large labor organization in Israel," the petition reads, Filed by Attorney General Yechiel Shamir, and his Deputy Attorney, Yiftah Helling.
A few weeks ago, the Manufacturers Association, the Craft and Industry Association and the organization of cleaning companies in Israel filed a petition with the High Court against the State of Israel, the Minister of Health and other factors, against the background of the spread of the Corona virus in Israel and around the world, and its implications for workers.
Background to the petition: At the end of January, the Minister of Health declared the Corona virus to be a contagious disease in accordance with the Public Health Ordinance. Subsequently, the Director General of the Ministry of Health issued an isolation order directing people how to drive if they returned from certain destinations abroad and / or if they were staying with a patient diagnosed with corona. These people were required to enter a two-week domestic isolation until it became clear that they were not infected with the virus, in order to prevent the mass spread of the epidemic among the public. Over time, the isolation order was also applied to employees who came in contact with verified patients.
It was further disclosed then that an employer of an employee who was required to enter the isolation could not request or allow that employee to come to the workplace during the isolation days, and also, could not fire him for the isolation.
Alongside these, the Ministry of Health has issued a blanket sickness certificate for the people staying in isolation, which could be issued from home. This is, among other things, to prevent them from reaching the health funds to request individual sick leave, and to enable them to obtain the occupational rights they deserve from their stay in the isolation forced upon them.
However, the employers' organizations that petitioned the court argued that these days of isolation are not sick days, and therefore should be regarded as days when employees were on vacation without pay.
The Histadrut, on the other hand, believes that these workers' isolation days are a disease that justifies the payment of sick pay, even if the same worker who stayed in isolation was not ultimately found to be infected with the virus. This is because the reason for isolation is protecting the health of that person and the entire public health. "In these circumstances, the preventive isolation situation is purposefully appropriate for the arrangement of the sick pay law, which defines" sickness "as" the temporary or permanent failure of the employee to perform his work, which, according to medical findings, results from a poor health condition, "the Histadrut petition states.
Furthermore, the Histadrut's power claims that if the workers knew that their livelihoods were in danger and that they would not receive wages for the days of isolation, some of them might come to work or look for another job, thus endangering the entire public. In addition, issuing the sweeping sick certificate saves the bureaucratic burden on the health funds for producing individual sick certificates. Therefore, the Histadrut wants to see approval of the sweeping disease, the approval of illness for all intents and purposes for those who the state has asked them to remain in isolation.
The Histadrut emphasized in its petition that it does not ignore the distress of employers during this difficult period, but that state solutions should be found in cooperation with the employers' organizations and the Histadrut in order to deal with the crisis "and without hurting the public."