The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry on Thursday said that persons with disabilities (PwD) employed by public sector banks and insurance companies would be given special leave without loss of pay for the duration of the lockdown imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Department of Empowerment of PwD under the Ministry took up the issue with the Finance Ministry’s Department of Financial Services on Tuesday after receiving information that State Bank of India was treating the absence of PwD as “sick leave”. The National Federation of the Blind had raised the issue with the department, it said on Thursday.

“Since employees with disabilities are exempted from duty during lockdown period, treating absence of such employees as sick leave during this period is not appropriate,” the department wrote to the Department of Financial Services, asking it to issue an advisory to banks and financial institutions to treat such absence as special leave without loss of pay.

The Department of Financial Services then issued the advisory to all public sector banks and insurance companies on Wednesday asking them to treat the absence of physically challenged employees as special leave.