Unvaccinated Government Staff Must Use Annual Leave

Unvaccinated government employees who have contracted Covid-19 or come into close contact with an infected person must, under new guidelines released on Wednesday, use annual leave while in isolation.

According to the directive provided by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, they may even be asked to work from home while in quarantine.

It suggested that if necessary to isolate employers who have already used up their holiday allowance, they would take unpaid leave.

A circular from the authority said employees must "complete all tasks given to them by their employer during the quarantine."

It is predicted that federal workers will be hospitalized for at least 10 days if they contract the virus or have direct contact with someone who has it.

If the employee is not vaccinated, then the quarantine time will be deducted from their annual leave, and the days will be considered unpaid leave if they have no annual leave days," the circular stated."

"They are also to complete all tasks given to them by their employer during the quarantine."

According to the health authorities' guidelines, vaccinated workers who have come into touch with a Covid-positive case must also quarantine and work from home. But to do so, they won't be required to use annual leave.

It was announced this month that UAE government employees who have not been immunized from Covid-19 are expected to take a weekly PCR test.

The rules allow workers to pay for tests of their own.

Employees who have received all doses of the vaccine are excluded.

Federal workers who have been vaccinated with one or two doses or are expected to go into quarantine must register with the online portal of the human resource authority, Bayanati, as part of the new steps.

Requests can be made through the service to operate from home.

Government officials are expected to send a weekly report on the number of workers who have contracted or have been in touch with the virus or received one or two doses of the vaccine.

On Monday, an online workshop will be organized by the body to clarify the revised guidelines.

To vaccinate half of its citizens by the end of March, the UAE has embarked on a mass vaccination campaign.

As part of the critical health program, close to 2.7 million vaccine doses have now been given to the public.

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