to complete the governance of procedures for responding to COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR), after coordination with the concerned authorities, issued a circular addressed to all ministries and federal entities regarding the quarantine period for a Federal Government employees affected or suspected to be affected with COVID-19.
Circular No. (4) of 2021 stressed the need for a Federal Government employee who did not receive the two doses of the vaccine to undergo a nasal swab examination (PCR) every 7 days, so as to ensure the health and safety of employees and their families.
Regarding procedures for employees who are infected with the pandemic or come into contact with infected employees, the circular stipulates that any employee infected with COVID-19 virus, shows symptoms of the disease, or tests positive must abide by the measures for treatment and quarantine prescribed by the competent health authorities, and according to the following procedures:
If the employee has received the two vaccine doses, the quarantine period (as per time frames specified by the competent health authorities in the country) will be treated as remote work in accordance with the rules established in this regard.
If the employee did not receive the two vaccine doses, then the quarantine period shall be deducted from his leave balance, if any, otherwise, the period will be considered unpaid leave, and the employee will perform any tasks assigned to him by his employer during the quarantine period if the work interest so requires.
Any employee who is infected, comes to contact with someone infected with COVID-19 or received one or two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, must comply with the measures contained in the electronic mechanism for registering Coronavirus patients. HR departments in federal entities shall follow up on their employees’ compliance with this mechanism, as well as ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information entered according to the mechanism.
As part of its commitment to assisting the federal entities with their monitoring and documentation efforts, the Authority has automated a set of guidelines related to the governance of addressing COVID-19 at the Federal Government level, through “Bayanati” System. Most important of these is the completion of automate mechanism for registering in the system, cases of Federal Government employee who are infected with the virus, remote work request for employees suspected to be in contact with patients, and employees who have received Covid-19 vaccine.
The Authority called on all employees to adhere to the precautionary measures issued by the competent authorities in the country to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The federal entities must monitor the commitment of violation committees to implement the guideline for employees who breach the precautionary measure contained in the Authority’s circular No (26) of 2020.
“All federal entities must provide the Authority with a weekly report on the number of employees infected with the pandemic, who came to direct contact with infected and who received COVID-19 vaccine, one or two doses,” the circular stressed.
The Authority revealed that it will hold a virtual workshop to explain the above mechanisms for all Federal Government employees on Monday, February 01, 2021.