Quarantined nurses do not get their vacation back:



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Nurses who end up in quarantine at the same time they agreed to a holiday will not make up the holiday.

The Norwegian Nurses Association (NSF) in Oslo has been contacted by several nurses at the Oslo University Hospital who do not understand why they are not allowed to postpone the holidays because they are in quarantine.

NSF Oslo County Leader Bård Eirik Ruud tells TV 2.

QUARANTINE: Nurse Amanda Rohde made up her vacation days when she was in quarantine, but believes that a sick note, without being ill, should not be necessary.

QUARANTINE: Nurse Amanda Rohde made up her vacation days when she was in quarantine, but believes that a sick note, without being sick, should not be necessary. Photo: Private

According to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, you are not entitled to get your vacation back if you end up in quarantine, because you are not on sick leave.

If, on the other hand, you become ill while on vacation, you can make up the corresponding number of vacation days later in the vacation year.

Going too far

In November, Nurse Amanda Rohde from Oslo University Hospital was going to have a few days off, but during the holidays she was told to self-quarantine after being with a chiropractor who tested positive for COVID-19.

When he contacted his employer, they told him that he could not make up his vacation days even though he was in quarantine.

Therefore, she contacted a union delegate from the Norwegian Nurses Association, who advised her to report sick to make up her vacation.

Rohde responds that this is the practice.

– I think it’s a shame you have to go so far as to get a sick note to get your vacation back, says Rohde on TV 2.

The 25-year-old got her vacation back after sending a sick note, but reacts to the system. She believes that she should automatically get her vacation back if she ends up in quarantine.

– I am thinking especially of those who are exposed to infections at work, says Rohde, who works in the Rikshospitalet pediatric ward.

– It is boring to have to report that you are sick when you are not sick, he also says.

Here’s what the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority says about holidays and quarantine:

“If you become ill before the planned vacation begins, the vacation can be postponed until later in the vacation year. Then, you must contact the employer yourself and demand that the vacation be postponed and document the illness with a statement from the If you get sick while on vacation, you can postpone the corresponding number of vacation days until later in the vacation year. “

If you are in quarantine for preventive reasons and receive sickness benefits in accordance with the temporary regulations on exemptions of the National Insurance Law and the Work Environment Law in relation to the covid-19 pandemic (§ 3-1), do not is on sick leave. Then you are also not entitled to an already agreed postponed holiday that coincides with the quarantine period. »

Source: Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority

It’s not the same

– Being in quarantine is not the same as having a vacation, says county leader Bård Eirik Ruud at the Norwegian Nurses Association (NSF) in Oslo.

NSF has sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs asking them to consider how the quarantine and holiday rules should be interpreted.

The county leader says they have received several questions from nurses working at Oslo University Hospital who do not understand why they are not allowed to postpone the holidays because they are in quarantine.

– We believe that it is an unreasonable practice. It doesn’t feel like being on vacation when you are quarantined, because then you have to follow strict restrictions. Therefore, he does not have the freedom to travel and visit family or do other things that he usually does during the holidays, he says.

– stretched away

QUARANTINE VACATION: County leader Bård Eirik Ruud of the Norwegian Nurses Association in Oslo reacts to the fact that holidays and quarantine are equated at the Oslo University Hospital.

HOLIDAY IN QUARANTINE: County leader Bård Eirik Ruud of the Norwegian Nurses Association in Oslo reacts to the fact that holidays and quarantine are equated at the Oslo University Hospital. Photo: Kristin Henriksen / NSF

Ruud thinks it’s a shame that the Oslo University Hospital equates quarantine with holidays.

Many doctors, nurses and health personnel have been quarantined this year as a result of being exposed to coronary heart disease at work.

– Holidays are used to recover from work sessions. The nurses have done their best this year. Not being able to postpone the vacation because you are in quarantine is also not a good sign of an employer to send, he says.

– It does not matter that they do not return the holiday because they send you into quarantine, which is imposed, Ruud also says.

Evaluate individually

TV 2 has sent several questions to the Oslo University Hospital, including why they equate vacation and quarantine. In an email, the hospital writes the following:

– It is true that the OUS policy is such that employees who are in preventive quarantine generally do not make up the vacations already stipulated, cf.

She also writes:

– Note, however, that we write as a ‘main rule’. In addition, the HR staff has advised the clinics to evaluate each case individually and return the vacation if our policy becomes completely unreasonable in the individual case, he writes and adds that it is the employees who are therefore it has allowed them to move the holidays.

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