In Spain, after deadly floods, the government sets up “paid climate leave”

SPAIN – Better protect residents in the event of extreme weather events. While the south of Spain suffered floods which left more than 200 dead and dozens missing, the Spanish government approved this Thursday, November 28, a “paid climate leave” to avoid travel in the event of an alert linked to a meteorological risk.

This new system, adopted by the Council of Ministers as part of a package of measures on risk prevention, aims to “adapt labor law” Spanish in context “climate emergency”explained Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz on public television RTVE. It will allow workers to benefit from four days of leave, paid by the State, in the event of an alert issued by the authorities, whether “of a town hall, a region or the central government”continued this figure from the far-left Sumar party.

From now on, “from the moment an authority, whatever it may be, indicates that there is a risk in travel, employees must refrain from going to work”detailed Yolanda Diaz, for whom “no worker should take risks”. At this stage, the minister has not provided more details on the type of alert concerned by this system, nor on the possible conditions to be met, on the part of employees, to be able to benefit from it.

If the maximum duration of this new climatic leave cannot exceed four days, companies will have the possibility, after this period, of resorting to partial unemployment schemes, which already exist in the event of force majeure according to the executive.

The challenge of alerting populations

This system was created following particularly deadly floods which affected the Valencia region at the end of October. The authorities had been under fire from criticism, accused by the population and businesses of not having informed them sufficiently and of having only sent alerts to the population's mobile phones in the early evening, several hours later. the opinion of the national meteorological agency.

According to specialists, “the cost of this type of event could double by 2050”recalled the Minister of the Economy Carlos Cuerpo at the end of the Council of Ministers, during which a new aid package of 2.3 billion euros was adopted for the disaster victims.

In this context, “we must continue to progress in terms of mobilization, financing and investment to adapt and be more resilient in the face of these types of events” et “minimize the impact”he added.

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