Norway property giant demands quarantine for protesting employees
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Published: 8 Jun, 2020 CET.
Updated: Mon 8 Jun 2020 13:11 CET
One of Norway's biggest property companies is demanding that everyone who took place in the George Floyd demonstrations in Oslo on Friday work from home for ten days.
"We are acting to safeguard the health and safety of our employees," the group's chief executive Daniel Kjørberg Siraj told Norway's VG newspaper.
"That is why we have said that all those who took part in the demonstration must work from home, obviously on full pay. We also encourage those who participated to maintain the quarantine in their spare time."
Obos, which has 1,694 employees in Oslo, appears to be the only company in the city to have made such demands of its employees after the protest, which on Friday drew 15,000 people to the Eidsvolls Plass square outside the country's parliament.
The city authorities in Stavanger on Sunday evening decided that all who attended the demonstration in the city and who also work with people in risk groups should go into quarantine.
"The important thing is that we introduce quarantine for those who work with vulnerable groups," Gunn Claire Westad, director of finance and organisation in the municipality of Stavanger, told NRK. "We are currently discussing how we can make clear guidelines if they attend other types of events where the infection control rules cannot be adhered to."
Oslo University Hospital was considering asking people to go into quarantine, but decided that it lacked sufficient ground.
"However, we do not believe that gathering in larger crowds gives us any authority to enforce attendance bans or quarantine from work," the hospital's medical director Hilde Myhren told NRK.
Siraj said that after seeing the demonstration on television, he felt it represented a health significant risk, and wanted to play his part in reducing it.
"It is an important matter. We understand the commitment to the issue, but we, as employers and employees, must work together to eliminate the risk of spreading infection afterwards," he said.
Comments
See Also
"We are acting to safeguard the health and safety of our employees," the group's chief executive Daniel Kjørberg Siraj told Norway's VG newspaper.
"That is why we have said that all those who took part in the demonstration must work from home, obviously on full pay. We also encourage those who participated to maintain the quarantine in their spare time."
Obos, which has 1,694 employees in Oslo, appears to be the only company in the city to have made such demands of its employees after the protest, which on Friday drew 15,000 people to the Eidsvolls Plass square outside the country's parliament.
The city authorities in Stavanger on Sunday evening decided that all who attended the demonstration in the city and who also work with people in risk groups should go into quarantine.
"The important thing is that we introduce quarantine for those who work with vulnerable groups," Gunn Claire Westad, director of finance and organisation in the municipality of Stavanger, told NRK. "We are currently discussing how we can make clear guidelines if they attend other types of events where the infection control rules cannot be adhered to."
Oslo University Hospital was considering asking people to go into quarantine, but decided that it lacked sufficient ground.
"However, we do not believe that gathering in larger crowds gives us any authority to enforce attendance bans or quarantine from work," the hospital's medical director Hilde Myhren told NRK.
Siraj said that after seeing the demonstration on television, he felt it represented a health significant risk, and wanted to play his part in reducing it.
"It is an important matter. We understand the commitment to the issue, but we, as employers and employees, must work together to eliminate the risk of spreading infection afterwards," he said.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.