Spain Labor Minister Slams "Illegal" Sick Leave Reporting Plan
Spain's Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz condemned a CEOE Tenerife plan for anonymous reporting of suspected fake sick leave as "illegal" and "inhumane," demanding its withdrawal and vowing to report it to the Data Protection Agency.
Spain's Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, strongly criticized a plan by CEOE Tenerife, a business group, to create an anonymous way for people to report colleagues they suspect of faking sick leave or being absent from work. Díaz called the initiative "illegal" and demanded that Antonio Garamendi, the head of the national employers' association, withdraw it immediately.
Speaking to EFE in Geneva, Díaz stated, "It's incredibly serious that Garamendi and the Spanish employers' association have created a system for workers to report other workers who are sick. It's inhumane, first of all, but it's also against the law."
She added that this move "puts Garamendi outside the law" and declared that "the era of political commissars in Spain is over."
Díaz also announced that she would report this controversial plan to the Data Protection Agency.
The minister reminded everyone that one of her first actions in her role was to get rid of a law that allowed companies to fire sick employees. She believes this new CEOE initiative is similarly a violation of human rights.