The majority of workers are in good faith and employers must show “accommodation” and “flexibility”, believes the Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet.
Quebec announced last week that the isolation period for people infected with COVID-19 was reduced from 10 to 5 days, under certain conditions, and that access to testing centers is now reserved for priority customers, which complicates access to screening for workers.
“I can recognize that there is some confusion. (…) It will require a certain accommodation, a certain flexibility on the part of the employers ”, admitted the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, Monday on Qub radio.
At the microphone of Philippe-Vincent Foisy, he said he was convinced of “the good faith of the workers” who will report their symptoms and determine the right time to return to work.
Due to the lack of accessibility to rapid tests, he recalled that “an employer could not impose a screening” and that the latter will have to “rely on the declaration of the workers”.
“Yes, for sure there will be abuses,” he agreed, adding that there is a whole panoply of tools and a self-declaration platform to help the parties and allow returns to work “to be as harmonious as possible”.
The minister also recalled that Quebec will receive around 30 million rapid tests by the end of January.
Mandatory vaccination of employees
Asked about the fact that a client of the SAQ or the SQDC will have to be adequately vaccinated as of January 18, but not the employees, the minister tried to justify what many consider as nonsense.
“We impose it [aux clients]because it is physical contact, community contact. It would be desirable [pour les employés], but the stake is not the same, he simply indicated. You have to respect the health instructions all the time, but I am not telling you that it is a perfect cohesion, I am simply telling you that the dynamics are not the same. ”
The Minister of Labor specified that “the most important societal issue at present is vaccination” and that the ideal would be “that employees in all sectors of activity can be vaccinated”.