Confederation of Finnish Industries EK: Companies entitled to decide their policies with regard to swine flu absences

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According to the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, even during the swine flu epidemic employees are required to adhere to the regulations regarding sick leaves.
      “At their discretion employers can show flexibility, but in principle the employees have to prove their incapacity for work”, EK chief surgeon Kari Kaukinen told the Finnish news agency STT.
     
“Of course we understand the situation, but this is a question of payment of wages during sick days. EK, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, or any other body cannot insist companies automatically pay salaries to workers, who simply say that they have caught the bug without providing evidence.”
     
If the epidemic spreads so vigorously that the authorities recommend that not all patients go to health centres or their GP for treatment, EK recommends that companies agree to sign off on absences of no more than a week also on the written approval of an occupational health nurse.
      A nurse could write such an approval on the basis of a telephone consulation and could at the same time give advice for treatment.
     
Many private medical practices have requested that workplaces show flexibility over doctor's certificates for absence, in the case that the swine flu epidemic proves to be a bad one, for instance in the coming autumn.
      For example the Diacor chain of medical centres in the metropolitan area recommends that superiors would give sufferers three days' leave automatically.
      Thereafter the patient could turn to the occupational health nurse who could provide a further five days' leave to recuperate on the strength of a phone conversation.
      Mehiläinen, which operates medical centres and clinics in several Finnish cities, suggests that employers consider approving their own staff members' notice of absence up to a fifth day.
     
The private health sector is gearing up for a busy autumn because of the H1N1 flu outbreak.
      Terveystalo, Finland's leading healthcare service company with 10% of the country's 17,000 doctors on their books, are preparing for as many as 70,000 cases a week.
      The private medical practitioners believe that they can get through the worst period by prioritising their work with an eye to developments. Among other things, the less urgent occupational health screenings will be put back to make room for more urgent matters.
     

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