Workers will not lose sick pay day

PRIVATE sector workers who are ill will not have to lose a fourth day before sick pay kicks in, says the prime minister, backtracking on a recent plan.

As part of a saving drive, the government said it intended to introduce a fourth jour de carence, that is, unpaid days before social security compensates them for loss of income.

The plan would mostly have hit the two-thirds of people in France who work for smaller companies that do not pay compensation for lost days.

The change is said to have come after MPs received barrages of complaints in constituencies.

The president of the social affairs commission at the National Assembly, Pierre Méhaignerie, in charge of a working group on the project, said: “I always say that MPs must lend an ear to the hearts of the people, and this weekend the hearts of the people have said ‘your system is unfair’.”

The government must now find another solution for the €200 million in savings it was looking for, possibly including a lowering of sick pay for people who earn at least twice the minimum wage.

The plan to introduce a jour de carence for public sector workers remains in place; and making it two days has been raised as a possibility.

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