Every hand is currently needed to keep operations running, the Spar supermarket chain admitted this week, according to an “Ö1” journal article. Most grocers allow people infected with Covid to work unless they are sick. The union finds the new rule impractical.
Since Monday (August 1st) you no longer have to be in quarantine if you have a positive corona test result. If you don’t feel sick, you can wear an FFP2 mask almost anywhere, even to work. “Many do not have a good feeling in the company, both superiors, employers and colleagues, working side by side with corona positives,” said GPA chairwoman Barbara Teiber on Monday, according to Ö1. She also fears difficult situations in everyday work when employees show up with a mask and then automatically assume that the person is positive.
Not at the checkout or in the delicatessen
savings wants to use positive but symptom-free employees in the branches, but only in areas remote from customers, said Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management Hans Reisch on Thursday, according to the “Kleine Zeitung”. Those affected would not work at the checkout or in the delicatessen department “as long as the staff situation allows it,” said Reisch.
Also at rewe (Adeg, Billa, Billa Plus, Penny), employees with a positive test result should come to work if they are symptom-free. Lidl wants to use employees who have tested positive but are not ill in the branches. They should also collect. Hofer wants to evaluate “technical and organizational possibilities” in the event of an infection, including the FFP2 mask and the possibility of isolation through individual workstations. Also Mprice makes no exception and uses infected employees without symptoms of illness “without direct customer contact”, said a spokeswoman according to “Kleine Zeitung”.
The trade association welcomed the end of the quarantine in principle, but criticized the omission of compensation for Covid-related absences from symptomatic employees. Without a notice of separation, the dealers are no longer entitled to compensation for the loss of earnings for employees who have been separated. A fact that the Chamber of Commerce also criticized. “The affected companies will have to continue to pay for sick leave from Corona themselves in the future,” criticized Walter Ruck, President of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.
Source: Nachrichten
