Quarantined workers receive 100% in the first 14 days

Quarantined workers due to health authority determination due to the Covid-19 outbreak will receive their income in full in the first 14 days, in a regime “equated with illness with hospitalization”, according to an order published in DR.

Pursuant to Order No. 2875-A / 2020, published on Tuesday night in a supplement to the Diário da República (DR), “the temporary impediment to the exercise of the beneficiaries’ professional activity, recognized by the health authority, in the exercise of the powers provided for in article 5 of Decree-Law no. 82/2009, of 2 April, in the context of danger of contagion by COVID-19, the disease is equated with hospitalization, for the purposes of Decree-Law no. 28/2004, of 4 February, the granting of sickness benefit not being subject to a guarantee period, professionalism index and waiting period ”.

The daily amount to be received by workers who are placed in isolation will therefore be 100% in the initial 14 days of absence, after which the rules of the general sickness benefit scheme apply, corresponding to the amount paid to that of a retirement.

Thus, the value goes down to 55% of the reference remuneration from the 15th to the 30th day, changing to 60% if the absence lasts longer, up to 90 days. If absences from work exceed 90 days, and up to 365 days, the beneficiary is entitled to 70% of the reference income, increasing this amount to 75% after that period.

Excluded from this regime are “workers who can ensure the use of alternative mechanisms for the provision of work, namely teleworking or distance training programs”.

The Minister of Economy had already mentioned on Monday an ordinance that was going to be published to guard against situations in which workers have to be absent from their jobs “not due to illness, but due to quarantine”, noting that the measure “may apply from the moment there is guidance in that direction” by health authorities.

According to Order No. 2875-A / 2020, the certification of impediment to work associated with Covid-19 is carried out in a specific form, available as an attachment to the order and which “replaces the document justifying the absence from work”.

This form must be “sent electronically by the competent health services to the social security services within a maximum period of five days after its issue” and “must instruct, when applicable, the childcare allowance and the childcare allowance. grandchild”.

The order now published approves and makes available, in an attachment, the model form “Certification for the purposes of article 5 of Decree-Law no. 82/2009, of 2 April – identification of workers / students”, for the identification of workers / students whose isolation is determined by a health authority.

“When workers are unable to attend work, due to illness or due to assistance to their child, grandchild or family member, in general terms, these absences follow the regime provided by law for these eventualities”, he adds.

The Covid-19 outbreak, detected in December in China, which can cause respiratory infections such as pneumonia, caused about 3,200 deaths and infected more than 93,000 people in 78 countries, including five in Portugal.

Of the infected people, around 50,000 recovered.

In addition to 2,983 deaths in China, there are fatalities in Iran, Italy, South Korea, Japan, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand, the United States and the Philippines.

A Portuguese crew member of a cruise ship is hospitalized in Japan with confirmation of infection.

In Portugal, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) confirmed five cases of infection, four of which in Porto and one in Lisbon.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak as an international public health emergency and increased the risk to “very high”.

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