A new circular on measures to protect the health of civil servants as well as the opening hours of public services was issued by the Ministry of the Interior on Monday, with the heat wave spreading.

The circular will be effective for tomorrow, Tuesday, July 25 and the day after Wednesday, July 26, and defines the conditions under which remote work will be implemented.

It is clarified that the instructions do not apply to employees whose duties are directly related to dealing with emergency weather conditions.

The circular in detail

For civil servants who belong to vulnerable groups, the application of telework is foreseen. If this is not possible, due to the nature of their duties, then they can not come to their service by making use of a special permit.

According to the ministry, their belonging to the vulnerable groups is established on the basis of the relevant data already held for the employee or in collaboration with the Medical Examiner of the Service or the occupational doctor or upon presentation by the employee himself of a relevant medical opinion, from which the condition can be derived.

For civil servants who do not fall into vulnerable groups, Personnel Services can either give instructions for flexible arrival and departure hours or to provide teleworking.

Especially for employees whose duties require working outdoors, they should use the prescribed personal protective equipment, while it is recommended to avoid working during the peak hours of the heat (12:00 to 17:00).

In order to avoid the suffering of citizens, but also to protect their health, it is clarified that any appointments with public services scheduled during the peak hours of the heat wave should be rescheduled at the discretion of the services.

The instructions do not apply to employees whose duties are directly related to dealing with emergency weather conditions.