The association of cleaning ladies "Las Kellys" has denounced irregularities in the Sandos Papagayo hotel in Playa Blanca (formerly Papagayo Arena), after they fired an employee just one day after she suffered a workplace accident, which caused her burns on both arms and chest.
According to the document presented to the Labor Inspectorate, to which La Voz has had access, the worker was "performing cleaning work in the kitchen and therefore outside" her job. At that moment she suffered a work accident that caused her a "chemical burn on both upper limbs and chest due to the manipulation of Clean Pac grill cleaner, which contains sodium hydroxide."
The spokeswoman for "Las Kellys" in Lanzarote, Miriam Barros, explained on Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero that "her boss sent" this employee "to clean the kitchen grills" despite not having "training or protection material", since "she only had disposable gloves".
Situation reported for a year
Barros has stated that it is a situation that they had been reporting for some time. Specifically, she recalled that when the group was publicly presented at an event at the Casa de la Juventud, on March 28, 2016, they already reported that in said hotel "the cleaning ladies were ordered to clean the hoods and grills of the restaurants."
Regarding the medical report, the spokeswoman for "Las Kellys" maintains that the mutual insurance company has classified what happened as a "minor accident, to prevent the Labor Inspectorate from carrying out an investigation." However, due to the injuries suffered, she considers that "it is clearly a serious accident and must be classified as such." Thus, the complainant does not agree and assures that it is the "joint responsibility of both companies", the hotel and the temporary employment agency through which her hiring was processed.
Week-to-week contract
The employee fired at the Sandos Papagayo had a "week-to-week contract", which expired the day after said accident. In this regard, Las Kellys denounces that the fact of chaining temporary contracts "incurs in possible fraud of law." Likewise, the fired cleaning lady assures that she is not aware "that the pertinent investigation of the accident has been carried out by both companies, nor that it has been brought to the attention of the Safety and Health Committee."
She also alludes to irregularities in the contract, since, according to the document presented to the Inspectorate, "previously she had signed a contract, on March 7, with a start date of March 6 and an end date of March 12." However, she assures that "said signature, made through a website, was later deleted by the company", which unregistered her from Social Security on March 5."
Faced with this situation, "Las Kellys" have begun to "undertake all the legal actions" that are in their power. Thus, they have put the case in the hands of lawyers and have filed the complaint both in the Courts and in the Labor Inspectorate, with a copy "to the head of the Inspectorate, the director of the Canarian Institute of Occupational Safety and the head of Labor of the Canary Islands."
