Quarantined policemen go without pay

There have been several cases of policemen self-quarantining after interacting …

There have been several cases of policemen self-quarantining after interacting with individuals infected with COVID-19. Eggert Jóhannesson

Ásgeir Ingvarsson

mbl.is

Icelandic policemen who, through their work, have been in contact with suspected carriers of COVID-19 have not received pay for the time they have been required to self-quarantine. Nor have they collected extra days off as they otherwise would under the shift plan system used by the Icelandic police force.

The Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB) has written to all chiefs of police in Iceland requesting that policemen required to quarantine get paid for the time they are unable to come to work and that they retain the extra days off that they would normally accumulate.

“Policemen are placed on the front line in every sense of the word. They are usually the first people to respond to any situation and have no choice other than to heed the call when their assistance is needed. It is often the case that they cannot know when dangers like infectious diseases might await them,” says BSRB.

The federation also demands that policemen get paid for scheduled overtime while they remain in quarantine as that would be a fair compensation for the risks they confront in the line of duty, and also compensate them for the personal free time they are not able to enjoy as they otherwise could if they were not quarantined.

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