Since Monday, there is no longer an obligation in Austria to isolate people who have tested positive for Covid – and this means that employees can also show up at work without symptoms. While experts have criticized this en masse, a look at everyday life shows that this opportunity is also being seized. By now, almost all supermarkets in the country have stated that they also use infected people.
There are currently about 19,000 job openings in the retail sector. The end of the quarantine for corona positives brings relief for the industry, at least in the short term. According to a Ö1 “Journal” article, supermarket chain Spar admitted this week that all hands are currently needed to keep operations running.
Savings: no sense in delicacies
Spar wants to deploy positive but symptom-free employees in the branches, but only in areas far from customers, deputy CEO Hans Reisch said on Thursday according to the “Kleine Zeitung”. Those affected would not work at the cash register or in the deli section “as long as the staffing situation permits,” Reisch says.
Individual jobs at Hofer
Employees with a positive test result must also come to work at Rewe (Adeg, Billa, Billa Plus, Penny), provided they are free of complaints. Lidl wants to deploy employees who have tested positive but are not ill in the branches. You also have to collect. In the event of an infection, Hofer wants to evaluate “technical and organizational capabilities”, including the FFP2 mask and the possibility of isolation via individual workstations.
MPreis is also no exception and uses infected employees without symptoms of disease “without direct customer contact”, according to a spokeswoman according to “Kleine Zeitung”.
Economy criticizes high costs
The trade association welcomed the end of the quarantine in principle, but criticized the omission of compensation for Covid-related absences of symptomatic workers. Without a divorce certificate, the dealers are no longer entitled to compensation for the loss of wages of employees who have separated.
A fact that was also criticized by the Chamber of Commerce. “In the future, the affected companies will have to continue to pay sick leave themselves,” criticized Walter Ruck, president of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.
‘Many people don’t feel well’
“Many do not feel good in the company, executives and employers as well as colleagues, to work side by side with corona positives,” said GPA President Barbara Teiber according to Ö1. She is also afraid of difficult situations in daily work when employees show up with a mask and then automatically assume that the person is positive.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
