At May 7 NA sitting, the draft law on Amending the Law on Temporary Disability and Maternity Benefits authored by the NA deputies Gevorg Papoyan and Heriknaz Tigranyan was debated in the first reading.
Gevorg Papoyan has noted that it is proposed to pay hired worker, because of the temporary disability, in case of not attending work, also for the first day in the amount of 80% of the salary. According to the current regulations, the allowance is paid, starting from the second day of the temporary disability.
Presenting the endorsement of the NA Standing Committee on Health Care and Social Affairs, Lusine Badalyan has expressed an opinion that the legislative amendment stems from the interests of a worker, the employers are not against it.
The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Davit Khachatryan presented the positive position of the Government regarding the initiative. According to him, the initiative is presented on time and it does not envisage the increase of a burden for the business community. Introducing the statistical data, the Deputy Minister informed that the number of sheets of temporary disability was about 70.000 on average in the previous three years, 36.000 of which referred to the maternity benefit. It does not have an essential share in the number of 600.000 employees.
In their speeches, the deputies highlighted the initiative from the viewpoint of the protection of employees’ rights.