A Supreme Court ruling in an employment decision may lead to several thousand children losing their relief care and support. Now the government and parliament need to step in, requires the union leader.
The so-called personal support judgment can have dire consequences, writes Sunnmørsposten.
A person who was working as a relief care provider, demanded to be a permanent employee, while Ålesund municipality meant that he was a contractor.
The municipality lost in the Supreme Court and, according to a circular from KS he must now be employed. This means huge expenses for municipalities, and Ålesund municipality will for example have to put an end to the weekend relief care program as it is today.
– This applies not only in Ålesund. In total there are 5888 children under 18 years old who are receiving this relief care benefit in Norway today, says Jens Petter Gitlesen, union leader in the Norwegian Association for Handicaped (NFU).
He believes there is no solution in the current legislation for these children and said the government and parliament must get involved.
Several municipalities have started to look at the implications of the judgment with a timetable to be completed before Christmas.
– The problem is that changes need to happen very fast. The municipalities are operating in an unlawful way today. Meanwhile, there is no way to resolve this for the municipalities. The Minister of Health Bent Høie must address this issue says Gitlesen.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
