Caroline Szyber, vice chairman of the Swedish Federation of Small Businesses, says that the members are outraged.
What people do in their free time affects the employers, she says.
Her members think that it has gone too far with the employers' responsibility for sick pay, as they have to bear the cost for two weeks. Even after beauty operations that one has decided to do oneself.
We hear from members that this is a big problem. There is great frustration, she says.
Self-inflicted
Szyber says that the employers' responsibility for sick pay during the first two weeks was tightened a year ago. This has made sick leave after beauty operations come to light – small business owners think that in many cases it is self-inflicted sick leave.
They are also frustrated when employees get hurt during ski vacations or get injured in bar fights.
But it's the beauty operations that are most upsetting. Her members experience that it has become increasingly common with aesthetic surgery and that it often involves more than one operation, she explains
In small workplaces, this becomes significant costs, you may need to hire a substitute and it can result in less being done, says Caroline Szyber.
But Johan Thorfinn, chief physician in plastic surgery and board member of the industry organization Swedish Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, thinks that the debate becomes distorted.
Everything is based on anecdotal information. There is no statistics on aesthetic procedures, he says.
No one can say for sure if it has increased or decreased, and no one can say either if the operations are motivated by medical reasons or if they are purely aesthetic, he explains.
Medically motivated
According to his members, a very large part of the operations are medically motivated, for example, skin-reducing operations after weight loss.
The boundary is very difficult to make, he says
Thorfinn refers to an investigation into sick leave after beauty procedures that was done in 2009. Then changes were proposed, but the legislator refrained because the boundary became too difficult.
Doctors cannot deny patients sick leave when it is motivated, and it is important with clear rules, he explains.
–If you undergo an operation, have paid taxes and there is a system for sick leave, then some patients think that you should be able to be on sick leave, says Johan Thorfinn.
Johanna Cederblad/TT
Facts: Sick leave times
TT
Plastic surgeon Johan Thorfinn says that the time needed for recovery varies, depending on, among other things, type of procedure, age, health and type of work.
A large skin-reducing operation can require three to four weeks of sick leave.
A breast reduction can mean around two weeks of sick leave.
Intimate surgery can require two weeks of sick leave, if the job involves sitting.
Source: Johan Thorfinn, Swedish Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
