Finance Minister Israel Katz has so far been unable to pass legislation to ensure that the state pays for half the cost of keeping Israeli workers in coronavirus quarantine.The lost workdays would be paid as sick days, and the proposed law would see the other half of the cost paid by employers.Katz has been unable to pass the law due to an objection by Likud MK Haim Katz, the head of the Knesset Labor Committee, who argued that the state should cover the entire cost, not half, for employers who have up to 23 workers, TheMarker reported on Wednesday.Following the Supreme Court ruling last month that days spent in COVID-19-induced isolation can’t be written off as sick days, workers must give up their pay and lose income if they can’t work from home.This creates a negative incentive to violate health regulations, as not all people can afford the loss of two weeks’ salary. It should be noted that quarantine is also imposed on those who may not be sick at all, but were unfortunate enough to sit on the same bus as someone who was infected.Some employers are willing to shoulder half of the cost, but others, such as Dubi Amitai, chairman of the Business Sector Presidency trade association, argue that the state should cover the full cost.The Finance Ministry is concerned with two problems: Israelis falsely claiming they need to be in quarantine to essentially get state money while not working, and businesses reporting workers are under quarantine, getting state money to pay these workers, and at the same time enjoying their work from home.Minister Katz suggested last week that the state would fund more than half the cost for workers employed by small companies that have up to 10 workers, but it was pointed out that struggling businesses that have, say, 12 workers might opt to fire two just to be able to get state money.Self-employed Israelis, roughly 315,000 people, wouldn’t be included in this proposal.If passed, the proposal would mean that the state would pay employers retroactively for days employees were unable to work starting from October 1. Between February and October the private sector paid NIS 4.2 billion to workers in quarantine.More than a million Israelis have been ordered to remain in quarantine since the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out earlier this year.
Katz' fight over who is to pick up bill for coronavirus quarantine days
Finance Minister Israel Katz and Likud MK Haim Katz lock horns over whom should pay Israelis for days spent at home: the state, employers, or the workers?
