UK care workers use up leave to avoid losing pay while sick with Covid

英国护理人员在感染新冠肺炎时用假期来避免失去工资

Some UK care workers are having to take holiday when they are off sick with Covid or see already low wages fall to £96 per week, raising fears they may not self-isolate.

一些英国护理人员在因新冠病毒请假时不得不休假，否则会看到本已很低的工资降至每周96英镑，这让人担心他们可能不会自我隔离。

Staff on the minimum wage claim to have been offered only statutory sick pay when ill with Covid or self-isolating. This contravenes government policy that they should be paid in full to limit infection spread.

领取最低工资的员工声称，在患病或自我隔离时，只能获得法定病假工资。这违背了政府的政策，他们应该得到全额报酬以限制病毒感染传播。

One care worker involved in an ongoing outbreak at a nursing home involving several fatalities told the Guardian the employer does not provide sick pay, so the worker and other infected colleagues had to take holiday to prevent their earnings falling. One colleague took holiday pay to maintain earnings while very ill with Covid in intensive care, the care worker said.

一名护理人员告诉《卫报》说，雇主不提供病假工资，所以这名员工和其他感染的同事不得不休假以防止他们的收入下降。这名护理人员表示，一名同事在病情严重、患冠状病毒处于重症监护期间，用假期工资来维持收入。
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The trade unx Unison, which represents care workers, said it had been contacted by multiple staff complaining about the practice, which appears to affect a minority of care workers, with many employers offering full pay for isolation or sickness.

代表护理工的工会表示，有多名员工与他们联系，抱怨这种做法，这种做法似乎影响了少数护理工作者，而许多雇主为隔离或患病的护工提供全薪。

“Almost a year into the pandemic, many care workers are having to survive on less than £100 a week should they fall ill or need to isolate,” said Gavin Edwards, a senior national officer at Unison. “Low-paid staff shouldn’t be losing money they can ill afford when they’re poorly or stopping home to avoid spreading the virus. The system isn’t working. Every care worker who has to be off work during the pandemic must be paid their wages in full.”

“疫情爆发已近一年，许多护理人员如果生病或需要隔离，就只能靠每周不到100英镑的生活费生存，”工会的高级国家官员加文·爱德华兹说。“低薪员工不应该因为身体不好而损失他们无法承受的钱，也不应该为了避免病毒传播而呆在家里。这种制度是不起作用的。每个在大流行期间必须待在家不上班的护理人员都应该获得全额工资。”

One affected care worker, who requested anonymity, said: “You have a lot of women whose partners have lost their jobs so they really can’t afford not to come in. There are people who don’t want to work because they are scared, but they can’t afford not to.”

一位不愿透露姓名受影响的护理人员说:“有很多女性的伴侣失业了，所以她们真的承担不起不来医院上班的代价。有些人因为害怕而不想工作，但他们承担不起不工作的后果。”

The Department of Health and Social Care established a £1.1bn infection control fund last year partly to fund full pay for self-isolating and sick care workers. It said the fund was to ensure “staff who are isolating in line with government guidance receive their normal wages and do not lose income while doing so”.

英国卫生和社会保障部去年设立了11亿英镑的感染控制基金，部分目的是为自我隔离和生病的医护人员支付全额工资。它表示，该基金的目的是确保“符合政府指导方针的隔离工作人员获得正常工资，同时不会失去收入”。

“Self-isolation is vital to stopping the spread of the virus,” said a DHSC spokesperson. “Our hardworking care workers should not lose income if they are required to self-isolate. We expect adult social care providers to pay full wages to care workers who need to stay at home to self-isolate and we have made £1.1bn available through the infection control fund to support this.”

“自我隔离对阻止病毒传播至关重要，”DHSC发言人表示。“我们辛勤工作的护理人员不应该因为被要求自我隔离而失去收入。我们希望成年社会护理提供者向需要呆在家里自我隔离的员工支付全额工资，我们已经通过感染控制基金提供了11亿英镑来支持这一做法。”
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Bespoke Health and Social Care, a home healthcare operator where workers receive £95.85 statutory sick pay, said service commissioners only provided enough funding to pay one worker for an individual’s care package.

Bespoke Health and Social Care是一家家庭保健运营商，员工的法定病假工资为95.85英镑。该公司表示，服务专员提供的资金仅够支付一名员工的个人护理套餐费用。

“We simply cannot afford to pay the staff member who was off sick,” said Chris Walsh, its chief operating officer.

该公司首席运营官克里斯·沃尔什表示:“我们根本无力支付请病假的员工的工资。”

She said the company had recently been alxed that it may be able to claim from the infection fund and that if successful it would reimburse affected workers.

她说，该公司最近被告知，它可能可以向感染基金索赔，如果成功，它将补偿受影响的工人。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The issue emerged amid continuing outbreaks in care homes and levels of reported Covid deaths not seen since last May. At Mossview care home in Lochgelly, Fife, 10 residents have died in an outbreak in which 25 residents and 43 staff have tested positive, said NHS Fife officials.

这一问题是在疗养院持续爆发疫情以及报告的新冠肺炎死亡人数自去年5月以来从未见过的情况下出现的。在法夫郡洛奇格利的Mossview护理中心，有10名居民在爆发的疾病中死亡，25名居民和43名工作人员检测呈阳性，英国国民健康保险体系法夫郡官员说。

“Our thoughts are with their loved ones at this difficult time,” they said in a statement.

他们在一份声明中表示:“在这一艰难时刻，我们与他们的亲人同在。”

Seven people have died with Covid at Falcon House care home in Hertfordshire, where the majority of residents became infected in another outbreak starting in late December.

赫特福德郡的Falcon House护理中心已有7人死于新冠病毒，那里的大多数居民是在12月底开始的另一场疫情中感染的。

Covid deaths in care homes in England and Wales surged to their highest level since last May with 1,719 residents dying from the virus in the week to 15 January – more than doubling the death toll since Christmas. The figures bring to more than 26,000 the UK death toll from Covid in care homes when data from deaths registered in Scotland and occurring in Northern Ireland covering the same period is included.

英格兰和威尔士疗养院的新冠肺炎死亡人数飙升至去年5月以来的最高水平，在截至1月15日的一周内，共有1719名居民死于该病毒，是圣诞节以来死亡人数的两倍多。如果将同期在苏格兰登记并发生在北爱尔兰的死亡数据计算在内，这一数字将使英国在养老院因新冠肺炎死亡的人数超过2.6万人。