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Anyone who suddenly falls ill or has an accident with a dog, cat or other domestic animal could take paid leave of absence from work to care for it. Signatures are being collected for a civic bill introducing new days off for employees.
The idea of introducing additional,
paid leaves for the care of our four-legged charges came from the Centaurus Foundation
.
“Have you ever had to leave work because your pet was sick? Most of us have been in this situation – and it’s always a difficult decision to make. Should you go to work and risk your pet’s health, or stay home and lose your day’s pay? Unfortunately , for most of us the choice is clear. We have to go to work. But what if there was another option?” – wrote the activists of the Foundation on their website.
That’s the “other option”.
paid leave from work, e.g. to visit a sick animal at the veterinarian
. – It would be granted by the workplace on the basis of a certificate issued by a designated veterinarian. It would certify the urgency of the medical procedure performed, reports Norbert Zielmlicki from Centaurus.
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Reducing the number of veterinarians authorized to issue declarations would prevent possible abuses and collection of certificates without a good reason in the future.
According to assumptions
Employees would receive up to 70% of their annual leave per day. daily rate
and could take care of an animal up to seven days a year.
Responsibilities towards animals
As Norbert Ziemlicki emphasizes, the animals we have taken in are our household members, for whom we support not only morally but also
legally responsible
.
Just refer to Art. 4.11
Animal Protection Act
. This provision speaks of “gross negligence”, by which is meant
keeping the animal untreated
in hunger, in filth, and in the wrong room and excessive crampedness.
Not only would sudden illnesses of the animal entitle to leave, but also
adopting a homeless pet from an animal shelter
. – Animals from shelters are usually after a hard life, they have problems with acclimatization in a new home. The presence of a guardian in the first days after adoption would speed up their acclimatization to the new conditions and reduce their stress and anxiety, stresses Ziemlicki.
We are far from the West
Our interlocutor admits that the idea of additional days off for caring for an animal is controversial for some people, and
unacceptable for many employers
.
– In Poland, most employers do not consider caring for animals as a legitimate reason to take time off work. If our law was passed by the Sejm, Poland
would be the first country in Europe with such regulations
– admits the activist of the Foundation.
Ziemlicki refers to Germany and the United States, where animal rights are extremely consistently and rigorously protected.
An example of this is the judgment of 2017.
court in Nuremberg
who ruled that it is urgent to go with the animal to the clinic
excused reason for absence from work
provided that the employee has informed the employer of this fact and provided him with proof of the reason for the visit.
But even in countries with high social awareness, to which Poland – according to Ziemlicki – does not yet belong in terms of respecting animal rights, there are no regulations that would require employers to justify emergency care of an animal.
Meanwhile, in the Polish Labor Code, an employee
is already guaranteed four days of leave on demand
which can be used in sudden and unexpected situations, such as illness, accident or adoption of an animal. So why multiply the extra days off?
According to Ziemlicki, Poles use four days of leave on demand mainly for family, personal and family situations
there are too few of them in a year
hence the idea to increase this pool.
Like a dog with a cat?
How do employers see the Centaurius initiative? According to Katarzyna Siemienkiewicz, a labor law expert from Employers of Poland, the introduction of new days off to the Labor Code may be met with
strongly opposed by employers
especially
if they are paid days
. – Such holidays can disorganize work in many plants – the expert assesses.
According to her, the employee has many possibilities to organize a day off work already under the existing regulations. It is about the above-mentioned leave on request, and in the event of exhausting it –
unpaid leave
.
In addition, they will appear in the Labor Code soon
two additional paid days off for the so-called force majeure
which can also be used for sudden illness of the animal.
Instead of systemic changes in the law, Katarzyna Siemienkiewicz proposes good practices to be followed by others. More and more companies offer benefits to their employees
a day off after adopting an animal from a shelter
for animals. Some also allow their subordinates to come to work with their four-legged charges.
The initiative of the Centaurus Foundation has been signed so far
26,585 people
. It is required to submit a bill to the Sejm
100,000 signatures
. People who are willing to support the petition can do so by going to the Foundation’s website.
Centaurus is an international non-profit foundation that has been helping animals in Poland for 17 years. During this time, they managed to save a total of over 2.5 thousand. horses and donkeys, several thousand dogs and cats, and hundreds of livestock and domestic animals.
Katarzyna Bartman, money.pl journalist
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Source: money.pl
