Changing the method of paying the sick leaves generates intense disputes between social actors. IPN economic analysis

Changing the method of paying the sick leaves and settling the quantum of the indemnity for temporary work incapacity, approved by the Government of the Republic of Moldova last week, institutes, from Patronage’s human rights experts’ point of view, a hidden tax which economic agents will be forced to pay and which will prejudice the rights of the citizens. Other experts consider good and according to the international standards the changes proposed by the Governement through the law from July 2004 on the indemnities for temporary work incapacity and other social insurance services. According to it, the first day of the sick leave will be paid by the employee and the next 7 days by the employer. Only the 9th day will be paid by the Social Fund. The chairman of the National Confederation of Patronages, Leonid Cerescu states that these changes are a method of forcing the economic agents to pay on more tax. According to Cerescu, the tax of 26% which economic agents transfer to the Social Fund will not change, inclusively the tax on sick leave, and in the case the employees will get sick, the employers will pay the equivalent of the wage for 7 days of work. The statistics show, Cerescu states, that the majority of sick leaves last for 6-7 days, so their payment will be totally the duty of the employers. The head of the Patronages states that many economic agents are against this decision, considering it only aims at taking away supplementary sources of money, which coul generate the bankruptcy of their enterprises. In this way, the quoted sources states that, “Ionel” factory which pays 16 million lei to the Social Fund, inclusively 6 million lei for sick leaves, will not be able to pay more 6 million lei for the same leaves. Leonid Cerescu says that he is very surprised of the fact that at the meeting of the Government on June 2, the Trade Unions, which should have protected the rights of the employers, did nothing against this decision and accepted the changes. On the other hand, the General Work Inspector, Dumitru Stavila, declared to the reporter of Info-Prim Neo that the new sick leaves’ paying method will influence positively the creation by employers of the work conditions for the employees, and will make them responsible for employees’ health. Stavila believes that at present, many employers are interested in the lack of employees at work. In 2005, 35 out of 100 agricultural employees, and 88 out of 100 transport employees went on sick leaves. The sum for the payment of the sick leaves was with 67 million lei higher compared to 2004 and amounted to almost 240 million lei, Dumitru Stavila says. The quoted source admits that these supplementary expenses for the sick leaves could influence the increase of the prices, because the economic agents will impose these prices due to their need to pay supplementary money from the wage fund. The representative of the World Labor Organization in Moldova, Ala Lipciu, declared that paying the sick leaves out of the Social Fund exempts the employees from responsibilities they have. Now, they will create appropriate conditions in order to diminish the number of sick leaves. Ala Lipciu considers that the changes are complying with the international standards. Solicited by Info-Prim Neo, the head of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Moldova, Stefan Uratu, declared that the changes can be qualified as a measure of fighting abuses in the area of sick leaves, of sick persons. He is not excluding the possibility that there are group interests, aiming at taking away hidden taxes and increasing gradually these taxes as in the case of medical insurances, which are increasing in price with about 200 lei every year. The Republic of Moldova reports to the European authorities it diminishes the taxes, but on the other hand, Uratu states, that the taxes increase considerably. “This decision is against people, it is an undemocratic mechanism, a massive attack, a violation of human rights and I do not understand why trade unions are not protecting these rights”, Stefan Uratu added. At the end of the last week, the reporter of Info-Prim Neo made several attempts to ask the opinion of the chairman of the Trade Unions Federation “Solidaritatea”, Leonid Manea and of the chairman of Trade Unions Confederation, Petru Chsiriac, but they were not successful. According to the informing note of the Governmental decision, signed by the General State Councilor on social development, Iurie Bucinschi, a modern mechanism of offering the indemnity for temporary work incapacity is not stipulating only the compulsoriness of paying it, but also increasing the responsibility of the employer and of the insured person in order to reduce the number and the duration of the absences on sick leave grounds. At the same meeting, the minister of Health and Social Protection, Ion Ababii, declared that this project wants to comply national acts to European standards. According to the mass-media from Chisinau, the initiative on amending the legislation at this chapter belongs to the prime-minister, Vasile Tarlev, “who is worried about the increasing rate of indemnities for paying sick leaves”. The amendments operated by the Government aim also at settling a fixed amount – 75% of the wage. For mothers, in case of maternity leave, for the persons with cancer, tuberculosis and AIDS the indemnity will constitute 100%.