Ministers have been urged to set up a special fund for care home staff who take a financial hit if they contract covid-19.
Workers have revealed they are scared to be tested for coronavirus in case a positive diagnosis puts them on £94 a week statutory sick pay.
An amendment to Holyrood legislation would try to make up any shortfall and ensure staff are not punished for falling ill.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "Care staff should be paid the same as staff who are working. Their roles have never been more vital. There can be no disincentive to isolate."
Care home staff who have covid-19 symptoms receive a test and an investigation is carried out in all care homes with positive cases.
In these circumstances all residents and staff, whether they have symptoms or not, are offered a test.
Calls have also been made to test every single resident and staffer after 1,434 deaths occurred in care homes.
However, the Glasgow Times reported today that staff are scared to get a test because of the possible impact on their finances.
Many workers are employed by private sector operators and some have been told they would only be entitled to £94 a week sick pay.
One Glasgow care home worker was quoted: “I was told I could only get SSP or borrow against future earnings. I couldn’t take annual leave as it was ‘cancelled’ in April.
“I’m already paid so low that I put myself into debt just doing the mandatory isolation period, from a disease I got at work.”
A survey by the GMB trade union, which represents carers, showed that 78% of respondents were worried about testing positive and having to take time off and losing money.
Lennon’s amendment to the Government's Coronavirus Bill would compel ministers to create a fund to give support to care workers who are forced to go off sick.
She said: "Proper sick pay for care home staff is a vital foundation for the success of any test, trace and isolate strategy. It can't work if staff are scared of tests because they can't afford the consequences of a positive test.
"We cannot have staff scared to be off sick. These workers are on the frontline and on the breadline and we have to find a way of addressing that.
"Care staff who are off work with covid-19 are doing us a service by being responsible and stopping the spread."
Gary Smith, Scotland secretary for the GMB in Scotland, said: “We knew the underlying challenges in care before the crisis.
“We knew the threat of this virus in January.
“Now, low-paid workers who cannot afford to live on SSP will be working asymptomatically or otherwise, and terrified of contracting this virus and taking it back to their families."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said:
“The safety of residents and staff in care homes is an absolute priority. No social care workers should avoid testing – and anyone who develops symptoms of COVID-19 must self-isolate and must be supported by their employer to do so, as per Health Protection Scotland guidance.
“Workers experiencing financial hardship is of real concern. The Scottish Government has agreed with COSLA to meet additional costs incurred through COVID-19, and this includes payment to third sector and independent care providers working on local government contracts in order for them to pay sick-pay, in line with terms and conditions, to all staff who are off work ill or because they are self-isolating.”
