THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The provision for availing special casual leave for seven days for state government employees who become primary contacts of COVID patients was withdrawn by the government. The facility for special casual leave was available for semi government institutions and public sector units as well.
The decision to withdraw special casual leave was taken by the COVID review meeting held last Thursday. With thousands of people getting infected daily, providing leave for contacts would mean paralysing the administration, the meeting has reviewed.
Employees who become primary contact have been asked to declare the same to reporting officers and attend duty by adhering to strict COVID protocol, including wearing of N95 mask while on duty and keeping mandatory social distancing. In case they become symptomatic, steps in accordance with guidelines of health department need to be taken.
The provision for special leave for primary contacts was introduced in September, 2021. The union government has introduced work from home facility for employees who are primary contacts of a family member.
An employee who becomes a random primary contact of a COVID patient needs to be granted work from home facility for three to seven days. A COVID positive employee of union government is also not eligible for any special leave, rather they can avail seven days of leave from their accrued commuted leave.
WFH mode
The union government has introduced work from home facility for employees who are primary contacts of a family member.