Silvia (not her real name) was trying to get pregnant. “It was a long process and, well, it happened,” she says about the miscarriage she suffered and which she still has trouble naming. “The truth is that not even my company knew about this process, which they don’t have to, but no one knew where it was at,” the worker tells elDiario.es. When he started work, a few days later and still facing the loss, he saw a role in his company that made him feel “the most vulnerable person in the world.” It was the report of his medical leave that the agency had sent to his employers. “The cause appeared in letters: Interruption of pregnancy.”
“The reason for the dismissal was clear. First I put a number and below, with letters: Termination of pregnancy. It was the report that the agency sends to the company where I work, which always sends them, not the Social Security report,” he explains to this medium. The worker has decided to give her testimony as a result of the information published by elDiario.es about the communication that Social Security makes of certain data that allows companies to know the reason for the reductions in abortions and painful periods.
“When this happened to me, I went to the hospital several times before,” Silvia remembers, since she had several previous bleedings. “They gave me receipts for work and I expressly asked that nothing appear, that the reason not appear, only that I had been in the emergency room.”
“The doctor told me that the company would not know the cause”
Finally, she had the abortion. “Many people may not know it, but when you have a miscarriage, if you don’t release it, you have to take medication that is very strong. You have pain, as usual, but very intense. They warn you that you are going to have to rest for a couple of days with pain. It is a physical pain, but also an emotional one. The doctor dismissed me and I asked her if anything was going to appear about the reason for my company’s dismissal and she told me no, that doesn’t appear,” says Silvia.
That’s why, a few days later, when she went to work and saw that part of the paperwork with the words “termination of pregnancy,” Silvia didn’t understand anything and broke down. “The company had asked me if everything was okay when they let me go. I’ve been with the company for a long time and well, they also care about me. I told them that it was something personal, that I didn’t feel like sharing it, but that it was okay,” he explains.
When I saw ‘Interruption of Pregnancy’, I felt like the most vulnerable person in the world. It was as if someone came in with the keys to your house and caught you sitting there in the living room, totally unprotected.
And then, before his eyes, there was a report that revealed to his bosses the experience he was living in his personal sphere. “When I saw that, I felt like the most vulnerable person in the world. It was as if someone came in with the keys to your house and caught you sitting there in the living room, totally unprotected. As if something you don’t want to share, suddenly… boom, someone put it in the newspaper,” explains the worker. “It seemed like such an invasion of privacy… a crime,” he says, his voice shaking.
“Everyone was shocked, how was it possible?”
Silvia explains that she also felt deep “anger.” “With everyone.” With his doctor, with the agency, “who at first I thought was committing an illegality”,… “With everyone,” he repeats. Because he lacked answers: how was it possible for the agency to know?
“People who told him about it were shocked. How was it possible? Nobody knew what the error was.” The reason for medical leave is confidential to companies, as his doctor had told him. Workers have the right not to report their health data and the company should not ask about it.
Then, Silvia went to the Galician union CIG. “It was when I went to Susana and told them what happened. Because at the very least it seemed like something susceptible to being analyzed. I had seen that role by chance, but maybe other women were in my situation and didn’t know it.”
With the CIG, pulling the string, the union and the worker were aware that the information came from Social Security, an absolute anomaly. They saw that it was one of the “special” sick leave that had been regulated in the Abortion Law, approved last legislature: for painful periods, abortion and end of pregnancy (week 39).
The Government expanded social protection in these cases – it is charged from the first day, compared to the fourth day for the rest, for example – but in the processing of this measure, Social Security communicates codes that allow companies to identify the reason for the lows. “That’s why the agency put a number, but also in my case they informed the company in letters of what it meant.” An interruption of pregnancy.
“Make a change now, there are more women like me”
For Silvia, discovering that the leak came from the Administration was “almost worse.” It was not an illegality or a mysterious data leak in his specific case. It was something that was happening to thousands of women. “This same thing could have happened to many women in their jobs and they don’t know it, which seems to me to make them even more vulnerable,” she fears.
Almost 30,000 women have been on sick leave due to abortion since this “special” Temporary Disability has been in force. “28,188”, the Ministry of Social Security responds to queries from elDiario.es. On the other hand, casualties due to disabling rules reach “2,183”.
In all this time there are still women who experience the same thing as me. Life goes on and nobody does anything. It seems very serious to me
Almost a year ago, when the CIG reported the situation to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), Silvia could not talk about what happened. “I was very affected. It is already difficult to assimilate what is happening to you on a personal level, which is serious, and one more thing adds up… If I tell you the truth, I almost ended up on sick leave because of this. At that moment, going to work with that feeling of vulnerability, that people look at you and know things about you, about your personal life… It’s difficult to deal with,” he explains.
Now, it is still difficult for him to talk about what he experienced, but he has decided to give his testimony after the publication of elDiario.es, with the desire that “this changes.” “I hope a modification can be made, I don’t think it will be that complicated,” he maintains and demands quick action. Even if the law was made to improve the conditions of casualties, the result “is an enormous invasion of privacy.” “We must legislate not from the generality, but thinking about the people who are going through this,” he defends.
Silvia is also very critical of those who knew that this data leak in the workplace existed, but have not fought or alerted citizens or women to change it. “In all this time there are still women to whom the same thing happens. Life goes on and nobody does anything. It seems very serious to me,” he recalls. “I hope this helps resolve this issue as soon as possible.”
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