As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, many Croatian employers claim they’re overwhelmed and irritated waiting around for the state to finally define the rules around covid certificates, which they would like to introduce them at workplaces and thus join the health and social care system which already have the same rule, but Croatian employers cannot do that because they have no legal basis to introduce it.
The Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) has therefore asked the relevant ministries to issue instructions to employers, which would answer numerous inquiries and concerns about covid certificates owned by their workers, and provide some clear guidelines on how to organise further business given the negative epidemiological situation and the number of workers who are unwell and in self-isolation. They are also asking the state to cover the costs of testing for the novel virus.
Despite the recommendations of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (CNIPH), Croatian employers currently have no legal basis to ask their employees to present a covid certificate, nor to remove them from the workplace if he doesn’t produce one,” they explained from HUP.
Namely, Resolution 2361 (2021) is in force across EU member states, which stipulates that people must be informed that vaccination against the novel coronavirus isn’t mandatory, and that there’s no political or any other pressure or discrimination to be placed on those who don’t want to receive the vaccine. In addition, as the vaccine against coronavirus is not on the list of mandatory vaccines for the Republic of Croatia, there are no obligations or sanctions for refusing vaccination.
Croatian employers are obliged, according to the recommendations of the CNIPH, to finance all the testing of their workers, if necessary. The state pays this only to the health and social care sectors, which HUP considers to be discrimination. HUP therefore sent a request to the competent institutions asking for coronavirus tests be provided to all Croatian employers in an equal way.
“We believe that it’s inconceivable and unfair to all other companies to make some sort of difference based on the protection of the health of employees by sector, and by belonging to the public or private sector. All of the above leads to legal uncertainty, and consequently the inability to organise business in a healthy working atmosphere. This situation requires urgent action by state institutions in the form of issuing clear guidelines to employers that would ensure the protection of their workers and the legal operations of Croatian employers during the pandemic,” they concluded from HUP.
At the time of writing this article, they hadn’t yet received answers from the authorities.
For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language.
