Parents will only be able to take sick leave if their child tests positive for Covid, but not if they send them home to quarantine

In the early stages of going back to school, after days of great uncertainty, the Government has ended up clearing up some of the doubts of parents about how they will be able to act in the event that their children are infected by coronavirus or have to remain in home because a positive occurs at school.

To the concern about the increase in infections and about how to face the start of the school year in these circumstances, there was also the concern of families about what to do with the children if the center closes due to an increase in infections or how to care for them if they test positive. , in the event that both parents work outside the home. Even more complicated for single-parent families.

The Executive has confirmed that in the face of a contagion situation, compliance with the quarantine prevails, as has happened since the beginning of the pandemic. Then the contagion by coronavirus was already compared with the obligation to keep quarantine. In both cases it is paid sick leave.

But only in this situation and not in other circumstances, such as the child being sent home for quarantine after some other child tested positive. The head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, clarified this yesterday in an interview on Cadena Ser, and was later ratified by the Government spokesperson and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero.

Parents, Montero explained, have the right to sick leave if, as a result of the start of the school year or in any other circumstance, their children are infected. As soon as someone in a family unit, she said, tests positive for Covid, the medical criterion is to discharge so that the quarantine can be completed. “There is no distinction between the quarantine situation and the coronavirus contagion,” she stressed.

Another thing is when the children are not infected but are forced to comply with quarantine because cases have been detected in the school. Given this possibility, the way offered by the Executive is to take advantage of the Me Cuida program, which allows workers to “make their working hours more flexible, even 100%”, to adapt to the care needs of minors. This opens the option of modifying schedules, provided that this fits with the type of work of the parents, or not going to work in that situation, without this being a cause for sanction or dismissal.

All this casuistry had generated some confusion because the Government, as this newspaper published, had considered the possibility of also paying parents who cannot go to work if the school closes. The Minister of Education herself, Isabel Celaá, confirmed it publicly, and assured that they were studying the implementation of a paid leave or sick leave for those parents whose children have to be quarantined due to Covid-19. The difference lies in whether they are positive or not. If so, it affects the entire family unit and it is mandatory to comply with quarantine, taking advantage of sick leave.

Montero yesterday asked for "tranquility" and assured that "in the event of new circumstances that are not foreseen at this time and that require the parents to stay at home for some reason, they will be searched, as we have done throughout the pandemic, the mechanisms that allow preserving the health of minors and comply with health recommendations.

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