Parliamentary questions for AOb-black book long covid
Can a compensation fund and an extra year of illness be established for teachers and support workers with long-term covid? That is what the PvdA asks in response to the Black book long covid of the AOb.
Statue: AOb
Are the ministers shocked by the Black book long-term covid of AOb, which shows that many teachers and supporters have contracted corona during their work? Are you willing to financially support educational staff with long covid with a compensation fund? And are you prepared to see whether a third year of illness can be set up for employees with long covid, so that those involved have extra time to reintegrate?
That is what MP Barbara Kathmann (PvdA) asks the Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment and of Health, Welfare and Sport, following the black book on lung covid that the AOb released last week.
An allowance is an acknowledgment that education staff have been at the forefront of keeping society open
The black book shows that 60 to 80 percent of educational staff became infected with lung covid at work. Those who contracted long-term covid have suffered from a range of serious consequences. The most commonly mentioned are decreased concentration, less energy, forgetfulness, headache, shortness of breath and palpitations.
Jong
De findings from the black book are based on the reports of 1200 teachers and supporters at the long covid hotline of the AOb† It is striking that relatively young people also suffer from long-term covid: 30 percent of the reporters are between 26 and 40 years old.
WIA
For those who became ill at the beginning of the epidemic and contracted lung covid, the WIA inspection is now in sight. Teachers have already been rejected for 100 percent.
De AOb thinks that too early. “So little is known about the course and prognosis of long-term covid that it is not possible to decide after two years who
is or is not incapacitated for work”, says AObchairman Tamar van Gelder.
Extras
De AOb therefore calls on all education employers in the Netherlands to give people with long-term covid a third year of illness. Van Gelder: “An extra year to reintegrate again, without having to face the sword of Damocles from the WIA inspection.” Initiating such a third year of illness is not difficult. “The law offers the possibility to postpone the WIA application in joint consultation between employer and employee. The space is already there: it mainly requires goodwill.”
Funds
According to Van Gelder, employers in education should then be compensated for the fact that they have to keep sick employees for longer.
Furthermore, people with long-term covid should also be eligible for a compensation fund. Van Gelder: “A compensation shows recognition for the fact that educational staff have been on the front line in keeping society open.”
Watch it here AObwebinar about lung covid back.
