Collapsed roads and More than a hundred people died as a result of DANA passing through Spainwhich arrived with special force in the province of Valencia, causing a endless list of property damage.
Now, two weeks after the catastrophe experienced in several Valencian municipalities, Civil Protection alerts began to sound last Tuesday night, warning that a new DANA would be located this Wednesday on the Mediterranean coastwhich could cause heavy rains in Tarragona and Malaga, which is why Aemet has activated the red warning. The danger is extreme. River overflows and flooding may occur. “Be very careful!” Aemet reported on social media.
In this context, a debate has been opened on the responsibility of the companies that did not cease their activity during the Valencia storm, and now there are many who wonder what consequences not going to their jobs may have in the face of similar conditions.
Can I miss work due to a DANA?
Last Wednesday, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, appealed to the “responsibility of all companies” so that they do not require their employees to go to their jobs in the areas affected by DANA, and recalled that “there is an obligation to protect the lives of workers”, appealing to the article 14 of the Risk Prevention Law on the right to protection against occupational risks.
Likewise, article 21 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law recognizes workers who are or may be exposed to a serious and imminent risk, the right to effective protection in terms of safety at work, as well as “andThe right to refuse to work if the working conditions are dangerous with serious risk to the workers.
What does the law say? Obligations of the employer
Specifically, the Article 21 of this Risk Prevention Law Labor Law establishes that, given this risk for workers, the employer will be obliged to:
- Inform all workers as soon as possible affected about the existence of said risk and the measures adopted or, where appropriate, to be adopted in terms of protection.
- Adopt the measures and give the necessary instructions so that, in the event of serious, imminent and unavoidable danger, workers can interrupt their activity and, if necessary, immediately leave the workplace. In this case, workers cannot be required to resume their activity while the danger persists, except in an exception duly justified for safety reasons and determined by regulation.
- Arrange what is necessary so that the worker who cannot contact his hierarchical superior, in the event of a situation of serious and imminent danger to his safety, that of other workers or that of third parties to the company, is capable, taking into account its knowledge and the technical means at its disposalto adopt the necessary measures to avoid the consequences of said danger.
What rights does the worker have?
Likewise, article 21 states that the worker will have the right to leave his or her workplace without suffering any harm:
- Interrupt your activity and leave the workplace, if necessary, when you consider that said activity entails a serious and imminent risk to your life or health.
- When the employer does not adopt or does not allow the adoption of the necessary measures to guarantee the safety and health of workers, The legal representatives of these may agree, by a majority of their members, to stop the activity. of workers affected by said risk. Such agreement will be immediately communicated to the company and the labor authority, which, within a period of twenty-four hours, will annul or ratify the agreed stoppage.
- Workers or their representatives may not suffer any harm derived from the adoption of the measures referred to in the previous sections, unless they had acted in bad faith or committed serious negligence.
This has been recalled by the Vice President of the Government, who has addressed the workers to ask them to “do not have any type of fear” of possible reprisals if they do not go to worksince the Government is going to “deploy the Labor Inspection” to detect possible fraudulent practices from companies.
Conditions for being able to miss work
For the worker to be protected by the law, he or she must justify the impossibility of traveling, providing evidence of danger or limitations in access to their workplace. Thus, factors such as road closures, weather alerts or blockages in public transport constitute justified reasons for not attending work.
If it is essential, however, that the employee communicate his situation to the company immediately and offer documentation such as photos or weather reports that justify the absence. Furthermore, warnings from the authorities about a high risk in an area constitute a solid basis to justify missing work.
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