On Thursday, 4 November, the Saeima adopted in the second and final reading the urgent amendments to the Law on the Management of the Spread of COVID‑19 Infection. The amendments provide for a legal framework for employment relationships for cases when a certificate of COVID‑19 vaccination or recovery is necessary to perform work.

The amendments stipulate that the employer will have to determine positions or categories subject to the legal rules and requirements regarding the need to hold a certificate of vaccination or recovery, and inform the employees about the requirement. The employees will be obliged to inform the employer whether they have been issued a certificate of vaccination or recovery and present the certificate to the employer in accordance with the procedure set by the employer.

According to the amendments, if an employee has not been issued a certificate of vaccination or recovery deemed necessary for performing their work, this will serve as a sufficient basis to consider the employee unsuited for the particular position.

As stated in the amendments, if, for objective reasons, it is impossible to transfer the employee to a different appropriate position or ensure remote work, the employer will have the right to suspend the employee for up to three months until they have obtained a vaccination or recovery certificate.

It the employee fails to obtain the certificate without due objective reason, the employer will have the right to terminate the employment relationship immediately, disbursing severance pay in the amount of one monthly salary.

In addition, the amendments delegate to the Cabinet of Ministers the powers to set the procedure for granting and disbursing compensation in cases when the side effects of the COVID‑19 vaccine have caused severe or moderate harm to a patient’s health or life.

The amendments also extend the range of epidemiological safety measures, the breaching of which is subject to a warning or fine up to 400 units of fine (2000 euros) for natural persons and from 28 to 1000 units of fine (140 to 5000 euros) for legal persons. From now on, the regulations will apply to all safety measures set to limit the spread of the COVID‑19 infection.

Moreover, the amendments provide that state and municipal capital companies whose type of basic activity is the provision of health care services and that provide inpatient health care services for COVID‑19 patients may organise volunteer work.

The amendments shall enter into force on the day following their promulgation.

Saeima Press Service