workers compensation

Covid-19 & Workers’ Compensation – Facts You Should Be Aware Of

To prevent the spread of the virus, it is recommended to ventilate office premises. If it is impossible to ventilate the office space, you should regularly treat the area with disinfectants. Coronavirus does not spread through the ventilation system, but is transmitted mainly through close contact with a person who has symptoms characteristic of this infection, and above all a cough.

A prerequisite for the spread of the virus is close contact with body fluids of a sick person (with blood, feces, urine or saliva). If a person infected with the COVID-19 virus coughs, sneezes or talks, droplets containing the virus are released into the air. 

Workplace injuries are typically covered by workers’ compensation, which is a state-run program that provides injured employees with medical treatment and lost wages. However, if your injuries aren’t workplace-related, it may be possible to file a claim under Covid-19 instead. It’s important to know what you’re dealing with in terms of insurance coverage, because it could have serious repercussions for both you and your employer. 

This guide will give you an overview of workers’ compensation versus Covid-19 so that you can determine whether or not your injury should fall under one or both programs. Keep reading to learn more about either scenario and important facts about workers’ compensation

Where Can You Do Work Remotely & How to Change the Place of Remote Work?

The employee and the employer can agree on a specific place of remote work (for example, at the employee’s home) or on remote work in general (i.e., a specific place is not specified).

If there is an agreement that remote work is performed in a certain place (for example, in an employee’s apartment), then in a situation where the employee wants to change him (for example, for remote work in the country), it is necessary to agree on a new place of remote work. It can only be changed by agreement, that is, the employer has the right to withdraw from the new agreement.

The employer is responsible for the employee’s working conditions, including remote work. Therefore, when changing the place of work, the employer has a legitimate interest in knowing where and under what conditions the employee performs his duties.

What Questions Should the Employee Agree with The Employer to Perform Work Remotely?

You can work remotely only by agreement of the parties as per workers’ compensation

The parties must agree to carry out the work remotely in writing. The agreement may include, for example, the following terms:

 

  • How are tasks set and monitored, how is communication with the employer and colleagues going on?
  • What hours does an employee do work remotely? Can the employer monitor employee compliance with working hours and how to do this?
  • Is the employee expected to be present on the employer’s premises and when as per workers’ compensation?
  • Does the employee have to inform the employer about the transition to remote work and when?
  • What adjustments does the employee’s workplace require?
  • How are labor tools (e.g., computer, printer) installed and maintained? How is the return of the means of labor at the end of the employment relationship?
  • Does an employee have to comply with data protection and other security requirements when working remotely?
  • How does the employee ensure the safety of the employer’s property?
  • Does the employer reimburse the cost of remote work and how much?
  • Does the employer have the opportunity to visit the place of remote work? In which cases?
  • Under what conditions can an employee and employer stop teleworking?

In case your employer denies to give you entitled rights hire an experienced workers’ compensation attorney to get legal help and entitled rights!

At What Rate & For How Many Days Can an Employee Receive Sickness Compensation? What Are the Care Benefits?

  • Workers’ Compensation for Temporary Incapacity for Work

In order to reduce the risk of people going to work sick and the employees’ own responsibility and thus contain the spread of COVID-19 infection, the procedure for compensating sick leaves will be changed by the end of 2021.

Only the first day of illness will remain on the employee’s responsibility, the employer pays compensation from the second to the fifth day, and from the sixth day the sick leave is paid by the Health Insurance Fund and as per workers’ compensation laws. 

As per workers’ compensation no sickness benefit is paid for the first day.

From 2 to 5 days, the employer pays the compensation based on the employee’s average wage.

From the 6th day, the health insurance fund pays out the compensation. The amount of compensation is calculated at the rate of average income for a calendar day. The calculation is based on the data received from the Tax and Customs Board on the person’s accrued or paid social tax in the year preceding the first day of dismissal from work indicated on the sick leave.

  • The information taken as a basis for the calculation will be available after payment of the compensation on the state portal eesti.ee.
  • Nursing Compensation

On the basis of the sick leave for care, the Health Insurance Fund compensates for:

  • Parent – the first 14 days of illness of a child under 12 years of age or illness of a child with disabilities under 19 years of age;
  • When caring for another family member – the first 7 days.

The workers’ compensation is 80% of the average salary and is subject to income tax.

If we are talking about serious illnesses (for example, tumors), different rules apply for calculating compensation for care.

Under the state of emergency, the population was given the opportunity to open a sick leave (including a care certificate) through the patient portal digilugu.ee. After the cancellation of the state of emergency, that is, from May 18, you can only get a sick leave from a doctor – if you or someone from your loved ones are sick, you need to contact your family doctor to get sick leave.

How And Under What Conditions Can an Employer Demand Medical Data from An Employee as Per Workers’ Compensation (Including About Vaccinations)?

In general, an employee is not required to provide an employer with information about his or her health, including information about vaccinations.

The employer has the right to ask the employee to confirm that his health condition does not interfere with the performance of work duties and does not pose a danger to other employees or customers.

Including, in justified cases, the employer has the right to ask the employee a question about vaccination if, based on the results of the risk analysis of the working environment, it becomes clear that vaccination in a particular position can serve as one of the ways to prevent infection and safely perform work duties in the future.

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