The Government reactivates an observatory of sick depart to fight the rise in absenteeism | Economy | EUROtoday

This Monday, the Executive resumed negotiations with the CC OO and UGT unions and the CEOE-Cepyme employers’ associations to introduce adjustments within the administration of sick depart as a result of momentary incapacity, given the rising drawback of absenteeism in corporations. After the assembly, the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, introduced the “imminent” creation of a Temporary Disability Observatory, during which, along with this division, the Ministry of Health and the social companions will likely be current.

The observatory, for which there isn’t a particular begin date, is nothing new. This was recalled by the top of Labor Relations at CEOE and consultant of the employers’ affiliation within the negotiation, Rosa Santos, who recalled that the creation of the evaluation physique was already included within the Royal Decree on Social Security measures revealed within the BOE on December 24, 2024, agreed upon by the Government and the social brokers.

More than a yr in the past, the textual content already urged the Government to “within 3 months” create a state fee – which is what what was referred to as this Monday “observatory” – was then referred to as to investigate momentary incapacity as a result of frequent contingencies. Said research was to be carried out “including monitoring the causes, incidence and duration of the processes; proceeding to study the impact that the response of the National Health System, in each of the areas, has on the temporary disability processes.” In addition, the authorized textual content requested that the fee set up “lines of action aimed at protecting the health of workers and thus reducing the number of processes and their duration, including the monitoring and evaluation of said actions.”

Suarez defined this Monday that Social Security, the Ministry of Health and the social companions will likely be current on the observatory. However, the autonomous communities is not going to attend, regardless of being straight answerable for main care well being companies, in addition to specialists, whose docs are in control of your complete sick depart course of.

In truth, the significance of regional well being officers is such that one other measure, additionally agreed in December 2024, was the creation of agreements between the National Social Security Institute and the autonomous communities. These needed to materialize an settlement that the employers and the unions had reached a yr earlier in order that, at all times with the consent of the physician and employee, diagnostic assessments in sick depart of musculoskeletal origin may very well be referred to the mutual societies collaborating with Social Security.

The royal decree of December 2024 additionally offered for the state monitoring fee to hold out “surveillance and control of the execution of the agreements of public health services with mutual insurance companies, as well as to evaluate their operational functioning, study and propose the adoption of necessary measures to improve their effectiveness and promote their application.”

But one of many first issues that the longer term observatory, whether it is established quickly, will be capable of confirm exactly the shortage of improvement that these agreements have had. At the second, solely three communities (Catalonia, Asturias and the Balearic Islands), along with Ceuta and Melilla, have ratified these agreements. Suárez defined that the slowness in signing agreements between the central Administration and the autonomies is because of “the many actors” that affect these processes. For this purpose, he assured that, at this Monday’s assembly, they’ve agreed that employers and unions, “each within their level of dialogue”, reinforce the negotiations in order that these agreements are signed.

Meeting subsequent Monday

The Government has additionally dedicated to forwarding within the coming days the proposals on streamlining the administration of sick depart as a result of momentary incapacity that it already conveyed to employers and unions within the final assembly held on October 13. The events have agreed to satisfy once more subsequent Monday though no main modifications are anticipated within the new textual content which, in line with the Secretary of State for Social Security, can have some correction solely in wording, however not in content material.

Among the measures proposed by the ministry, there will likely be some that will likely be regulatory in nature and that, subsequently, the Government will be capable of approve with out going by Congress. This is the case of the regulation to ascertain a brand new Central Disability Assessment Unit, which is able to embrace the incapacity evaluation groups which are decided. This physique, which is able to rely upon the National Social Security Institute, will handle the sick depart processes that, typically as a result of they final greater than a yr, change into managed by this physique.