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The Council of Ministers approved this Wednesday modifications to the Law on Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases. They establish the right of the Government to establish a list of jobs and areas of activity in which only employees who have been additionally screened for a communicable disease are allowed to work. It also specifies in which cases employees must be subject to mandatory inspections.
The final decision will be made by Seimas in the near future with extreme urgency.
The test will be mandatory for those workers who will be instructed by the Government before starting work, those who will be tested periodically and those who may be infected with the virus or if there is an outbreak in their workplace.
During the government meeting, Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys said that the purpose of the amendments is to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and to ensure public health and safety.
“The coronavirus infection is declared a particularly dangerous contagious disease, which is why the Government has declared an emergency situation at the state level throughout the country and throughout the territory of the Republic of Lithuania: quarantine. In addition, the World Organization of Health (WHO) has confirmed that the disease has caused a worldwide pandemic ”, said A. Dulkys.
According to the minister, proportionate management should be established after assessing the threat of the disease. The measures adopted, according to A. Dulkys, will facilitate the management of the pandemic.
Do not check: withdrawal from work
In the event of a workplace outbreak, it will only be possible to continue working in the workplace after verifying that workers have not contracted Covid-19. The National Public Health Center (NVSC) will indicate which employees must undergo health tests. NVSC will inform both employees and employers about this.
Employers who have refused to take the test must be fired by their employers and not paid or instructed to telecommute until they have undergone a medical examination. Not taking the exam on time is only possible for one very important reason: funeral, business trip or illness.
An employer who also rejects the test may also be transferred to another job at the same workplace. The employee will be reinstated when he gives the employer the results of a medical examination so that he can continue working.
Those who may be infected with the coronavirus should also get tested. These individuals are prohibited from performing government-specified work unless they telecommute. For an employee to return to work, he needs the permission of a family doctor.
Job lists and areas of activity were also approved, in which only employees who have been previously evaluated and subsequently periodically reviewed to detect Covid-19 are allowed to work.
The expenses of the periodic tests and the remuneration for the time spent on the medical examinations must be paid by the employer. Pre-employment tests are paid for by the employee himself, but additional health screenings during quarantine or emergency can be funded from the state budget or paid for by the employer.
The procedure for mandatory tests will be established by the Minister of Health. The amendments to the law were expected to be approved on Monday so that the Seimas could consider them in the spring session that began on Wednesday as a matter of special urgency.
However, a discussion about the wording of the amendments emerged during a government meeting on Monday morning. Health Minister A. Dulkys, who introduced the amendments, described mandatory testing of people as “mandatory.” Following a discussion on the definition, the topic was postponed.
You can see the video of the government meeting here:
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