The Council of Labor Affairs yesterday announced that workers quarantined by health departments in connection with the SARS outbreak are entitled to take days off -- while their employers are allowed to not pay them for the missed days.
The council said some SARS infections, however, could be considered an occupational injury if an employee became infected with SARS because of work. Such a ruling would require the employer to pay for medical fees, salary and compensation due the employee because of the illness.
The council held a press conference yesterday to issue interpretations and guidelines on labor regulations in dealing with work-related issues stemming from the epidemic. The press conference following the Cabinet's decision Thursday night to classify SARS as a statutory communicable disease.
Council deputy chairman Kuo Chi-jen (郭吉仁) said workers infected by SARS are entitled to sick leave, as long as they apply for it in accordance with their employer's regulations, while employees who are ordered to be quarantined have an automatic entitlement to sick leave.
But Kuo added, "Under the Civil Code, when neither employee nor employer is responsible for the disease, employers are entitled not to pay wages to the employees."
In cases in which employers are not obliged to pay wages to quarantined workers, health departments will be required to liaise with social affairs departments to provide financial assistance to the quarantined workers.
But Kuo said that as long as the health departments judged the infected cases to be work-related, the council would classify the cases as occupational accidents.
He cited the four employees of CTCI Corp who fell ill after returning from Hong Kong last Friday as an example of work-related illness. He said all four cases will be counted as occupational accidents.
As China, Hong Kong and Vietnam are considered as SARS-affected areas, Kuo said that employees are entitled to refuse business-travel assignments to these three areas.
More than 200 Taipei City residents and some 70 residents of Taipei County have been quarantined by the city's Bureau of Health.
According to the regulations, people under quarantine are prohibited from leaving their homes. Those who violate the regulations could be punished by fines ranging from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000.
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