Claim to home office for pregnant federal and state teachers and time off work if home office is not possible.
Vienna (OTS) – Dear persons responsible for education and health,
As an independent teacher representation, we expect the following CoV protective measure for pregnant teachers to be implemented immediately:
- Entitlement to home office for pregnant federal and state teachers and time off work if home office is not possible.
Since COVID-19 is an infectious disease, the employer must comply with his increased duty of care according to § 4 MSchG. If the incidence of cases is as high as is currently the case in Austria, pregnant teachers may only be used for home office activities. Pregnant women cannot be expected to wear an FFP mask as a protective measure, because this would pose a risk to the unborn child. The US health authority CDC considers it to be proven that pregnant women have a significantly higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease than non-pregnant women. The scientific evidence is such that pregnant women are hospitalized more often and then also have to be ventilated than women of the same age group who are not pregnant. That is why pregnancy counts for belonging to the COVID-19 risk group. (CDC list of risk groups). We would also like to point out that teachers in classroom teaching are infected more often than teachers in home office (https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.13.20211359). Thank you for your responsible behavior in terms of pregnancy protection.
Inquiries & contact:
josefgary.fuchsbauer@my.goed.at, 0680 2124358
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