Employers forcing workers in quarantine to come to work: Trade Union

Concerns about rising absenteeism result in employers forcing workers in Covid-19 quarantine to come to work, trade union FNV said to newspaper AD. Since December 1, the union has received some 80 reports of quarantined workers forced to go to the office.

"In recent weeks, more reports have been received about quarantine rules and what someone's rights are," FNV spokesperson Jose Kager said to the newspaper. Most complaints come from the healthcare sector, but other sectors are also represented.

Some employees told FNV that their boss threatened to take their vacation days if they didn't come in. According to the union, this primarily involves people in compulsory quarantine after having contact with someone with Covid-19. 

Companies are worried about increased absenteeism due to stricter quarantine rules and the sky-high number of Covid-19 infections, the union said. They, therefore, put more pressure on their workers to ignore the quarantine rules.