COVID-19 AND SICKNESS INSURANCE BENEFITS (SELECTED ISSUES)

The Act of 2 March 2020 on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID‑19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them introduced a preferential sickness allowance for certain insured persons (i.e. insured persons who are employed in medical entities; insured persons who are employed in social assistance organisational units providing twenty-four-hour services, night shelters and other facilities providing twenty-four-hour care to persons with disabilities, the chronically ill or the elderly; insured persons carrying out the tasks of a member of the voluntary fire brigade). The article analyses the changes made to the legal regulation and the differences between them (e.g. right to sick pay and sickness allowance or only to sickness allowance). The article also draws attention to certain irregularities in the practical application of these provisions.

‘Working While Feeling Awful Is Normal’: One Roma’s Experience of Presenteeism

This article presents an account of a young Roma man’s lived experience of working in the agricultural sector while sick, and shines a spotlight on the impact of precarious work, low pay and eligibility, and access to sick pay, with particular emphasis on Roma, and how these factors interconnect to foster presenteeism. The repercussions of presenteeism, relayed through Piotr’s personal narrative and reflections about his work, family role, ambition and daily survival, enrich public sociology about this under explored area of migrant Roma’s working life.

On the (mis)classification of paid labor: When should gig workers have employee status?

The emergence of so-called ‘gig work’, particularly that sold through digital platforms accessed through smartphone apps, has led to disputes about the proper classification of workers: Should platform workers be classified as independent contractors (as platforms typically insist), or as employees of the platforms through which they sell labor (as workers often claim)? Such disputes have urgency due to the way in which employee status is necessary to access certain benefits such as a minimum wage, sick pay, and so on. In addition, classification disputes have philosophical significance because their resolution requires some foundational account of why the law should make a distinction between employed and freelance workers in the first place. This paper aims to fill this foundational gap. Central to it is the idea that employment involves a worker ceding certain freedoms in return for a degree of security, at least with respect to income. Insofar as the misclassification objection has force against digital platforms, it is when a platform is attempting to have it both ways: Workers are giving up freedom but not being granted a proportionate increase in security. As I shall explain, this approach offers some flexibility as to how actual disputes might be resolved – justice may be indifferent between whether platforms offer greater security or permit workers greater freedom, provided they do at least one of these things.

Fighting Inequality in the time of COVID-19: The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has swept across a world unprepared to fight it, because countries had failed to choose policies to fight inequality. Only one in six countries assessed for the CRI Index 2020 were spending enough on health, only a third of the global workforce had adequate social protection, and in more than 100 countries at least one in three workers had no labour protection such as sick pay. As a result, many have faced death and destitution, and inequality is increasing dramatically. This third edition of the CRI Index report recommends that all governments adopt strong anti-inequality policies on public services, tax and labour rights, to radically reduce the gap between rich and poor. The international community must support them with Special Drawing Rights, debt relief and global solidarity taxes. See also the CRI Index website at www.inequalityindex.org

In sickness and in health: sick pay and employer duty

There has never been a better time to review employer and employee obligations in regards to illness, absence and pay. Adam Bernstein delves into the legalities and outlines each party's rights