The judge ruled today that unions FNV and CNV are inadmissible in the lawsuit against the State to demand a financial relief arrangement for care workers with Long Covid. PILP represents union FNV in this case.

The unions had filed a lawsuit against the State through a collective action. An advance payment of compensation was sought for all healthcare workers who suffered Long Covid in 2020. The judge ruled that such a collective action in these summary proceedings is not possible.

According to the judge, the circumstances under which different care workers had to perform their jobs are too different to rule on them in these summary proceedings. This means that the judge will not rule on the substance of the case, and therefore will not answer the question of whether the State is liable for the damage incurred by care workers. For this reason, the judge also does not rule on the question of whether it is right for the State to want to make an arrangement only for a limited group, namely only the care workers who were infected between March and June 2020.

However, the judge did state that it is understandable that the unions started these proceedings.

‘In all reasonableness, it cannot be disputed that those affected have a strong interest in obtaining clarity in the short term about compensation for the financial consequences associated with their deployment in the care sector in the first period after the corona pandemic reached the Netherlands and the infections contracted in the process, which led to long-term illness. However understandable it is that the unions have used these summary proceedings as a crowbar, this legal route cannot offer any relief on the grounds mentioned above.’

PILP will enter into consultations with union FNV on this judgment and the possible next steps.

Read more about this case here.