«Disabled employee” forced “to leave the room». Protests to the Health Department

CATANZARO “There is no worse image to bear than an inexplicable injustice. Even more so when it is (badly) motivated and especially if it affects the most fragile people ». Within the Department of Health Protection, the CSA-Cisal union denounces, “an episode is taking place that contains all these ugly characteristics. A regional employee, with known and serious health problems, is undergoing indecent treatment from her superiors. The union, out of respect for the privacy of the worker, will not disclose sensitive information, but obviously cannot remain silent in the face of such a delicate case, obviously to protect it ».
“With an email sent at 8.55 pm on Tuesday 15 September – writes the union -, the manager of the sector of reference of the employee informs the latter of the fact that” a reorganization of the positions of the Department is in progress, also necessary in order to ensure compliance security measures related to the Covid-19 emergency. As part of the aforementioned reorganization – the communication continues -, there is a need for the management to have the room assigned to you “. “I ask you to contact me or the sector staff – continues the manager’s email – for information on how to move your personal items to the different location that will be indicated to you. Of course, you can also delegate someone without coming personally to the Citadel premises. I ask you for a kind reply as soon as possible, having to proceed within this week ”. We wanted to reproduce the content of the mail almost entirely – explains the Csa-Cisal union – in such a way as to understand, for the reasons that will now be explained, the gravity, the offensiveness and the inhumanity of a communication of this nature ».
The employee who is asked to pack arms and luggage within a few days – underlines the union – suffers from clinically proven secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, which has caused her a severe form of disability. The room that had been assigned to her, due to its characteristics and logistical positioning, was not the result of chance: close to the elevator and the toilets and with elements that make it less burdensome, given her state of health and the consequent difficulties in walking, carrying out office work. It will not be a coincidence that that position was legitimately assigned to it just three months after the inauguration of the offices of the regional Citadel. It is the only solution suitable for the worker and, even more so (as the manager writes) to ensure greater safety in the management of the Covid-19 emergency, also because the medical certification already in possession of the same regional administration demonstrates that it is a subject to “a greater infectious risk”.
«We would not like – writes the Csa-Cisal – that behind this ill-concealed zeal on the reorganization of the department’s workstations, that room had not become the object of desire of someone who has put aside scruples. It is practically opposite that of the general manager of the department. Do you need him or the executive who wrote the communication? Having clarified this, in the name of what reorganization of the workstations can one cause a disadvantage to an employee who is already more fragile than all the others? With what spirit can this be asked, within a department that, moreover, has been dealing with social policies and services for a few months? Should a disadvantaged employee be harmed by someone’s whims? how can you treat a worker with enough enough to order her to leave in a few days, even “delegating” others to take her personal effects? Where has respect for colleagues and human respect gone? The Csa-Cisal union is firmly opposed to this which would be an unprecedented shame in the history of the Calabria Region. The rights of a weak person subtly trampled on ».
The worker had already recently swallowed a bitter mouthful because of the department. To participate in a notice of mobility to another department, he had initially requested and obtained the preventive clearance from the penultimate general manager. As soon as the new one arrived it was revoked. And if the refusal could have been accepted up to now, at least in terms of organizational logic given the shortage of staff, the intimation to move by Friday this week as if it were a postal package is absolutely inadmissible.
“Several times – continues the Csa-Cisal union – we have said that the Health department is among those made worse in the Calabria Region. Very few internal employees, with crucial sectors uncovered, and “maintained” by the “temporarily employed” despite having to manage over 60% of the body’s budget. The poor coordination exercised on the five provincial health agencies and on the four Calabrian hospitals is a flaw reported by all, as well as one of the main causes of the failures of Calabrian health. In short, there are problems in abundance and much more urgent that the general manager and the various sector executives should deal with rather than moving the workstation of a person suffering from such a serious disease. We ask the CEO Bevere to take the matter entirely to himself by reviewing the decision and apologizing to the employee. We do not believe that the manager chosen by President Santelli can allow episodes with discriminatory attitudes to happen in the workplace (in front of her room), like this one just described. Stop this havoc immediately and adopt the most appropriate solution to respect the rights and health of the disabled employee. Otherwise – concludes the Csa-Cisal union -, we will be forced to oppose, with all the forms permitted by law, this episode which would be one of the blackest pages of workers in the Calabria Region ”.

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