The start of the new system Medical licenses in it public sector will come into force this Monday, after having been extended for 60 days by decision of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) based on the claims of the Confederation of State Officials (COFE), which threatens protests.
Until now, public officials did not have money deducted from their salaries for certifications. With the modification, they will be entitled to a maximum of nine business days paid leave for illness or accident.
In addition, they may be requested alternately or consecutively for a period of one year. From the tenth day they will have the right to subsidy, which will be an amount equivalent to 75% or 100% of the salary, depending on several factors and every January 1st the number of days available will be renewed, which do not accumulate from one year to the next.
The controversy behind the new regime
The application of the new regime was extended by 60 days at the request of COFE, which claimed during the January evaluation period that the difficulties in applying the system were not corrected.
“We proposed that the occupational health services that were operating have the data on what the certifications were in each organization to work on prevention and not after the medical license is consummated. The government declared itself incapable of being able to control and that is why they propose to us that on the side of economic punishment is where they are going to cut off the small abuses,” he indicated Martin Pereirapresident of the union to Underlined.
COFE proposed, instead, a one-year pilot plan without the financial discount and with greater controls to see if absenteeism decreased. “He has a desire to collect money and we understand that it is not going to be beneficial for the workers, because someone who really gets sick will not have the possibility of collecting their salary,” said the union member.
Meanwhile, since Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) They highlighted that the medical license system was approved by law in 2022, so it is appropriate to begin applying it, in addition to being widely discussed with COFE.
Meanwhile, for President Luis Lacalle Pou the measure is nothing more than implementing a licensing regime similar to that of the private sector, to equal conditions with public sector workers, to whom the salary is paid by “anyone who gets up to work”. “We have to be careful with people’s resources, and when we see that a lot of money is going away in licenses, it seems to us that we have to make things more tidy, we shouldn’t take it as an attack or anything like that,” said the president.
Source: Ambito
