Approval of the Teleworking Regulation Law.

Dear Clients and Friends:

ROMERO PINEDA informs you that the Legislative Assembly approved in a plenary session on March 20 of this year the “Telework Regulation Law” which will come into force 8 days after its publication in the official gazette.

The aforementioned law is made up of 22 articles and its main objective is to promote, harmonize, regulate and implement teleworking as an instrument for the generation of employment and the modernization of public, private and autonomous institutions, through the use of technology. of information and communication.

The approved law regulates the teleworking modality commonly known as “Home Office” or “home office,” adapting to technological advances that allow this type or modality of work to be implemented, and defines it in article 2 as “a form of "carry out the non-face-to-face employment relationship, totally or partially, for a certain period of time or indefinitely, outside the workplace and using information and communication technologies as support."

The law establishes that it may be applicable to employment relationships between public and private employees.

The law regulates the modalities in which teleworking may be applied according to the place where the work will be performed:

1. Self-employed: Employees who will work from home;
2. Mobile: Employees who may move as they deem appropriate, without having a specific place to telework, and
3. Supplemental: Employees who will work partially remotely and partially at the center or workplace.

On the other hand, according to the setting of work hours and days, teleworking can be classified into:

1. Connected teleworking: Through which the remote employee, during his workday, will be permanently connected to a platform in this way being monitored and controlled by the employer, and;
2. Disconnected teleworking: In which the employee must not connect to any platform and therefore will be able to accommodate his or her work day on a day-to-day basis.

Both the connected and disconnected teleworker must adhere to and respect the working hours established in article 161 of the Labor Code.

In order for this modality to be carried out, it is necessary that there be a mutual agreement between the employee and the employer to carry out the work remotely in the previously established ways. This type of work must be clearly stated in the Individual Employment Contract, so it is recommended that it be agreed upon before starting the employment relationship. If the need to implement this modality arises after the signing of the Individual Work Contract, it will be necessary to modify the Individual Work Contract through an addendum. In said employment contract or addendum, it will be an essential requirement to specifically describe the place where the remote work will be performed, describe the tasks that the employee will perform, the programs and platforms that will be used and establish the mechanisms, means and control parameters. that will be used to identify compliance with work hours, goals and measure efficiency and performance by the employee.

The law also dictates that both the Individual Work Contract and the Addendum must specify who of the parties will provide the necessary equipment and tools. In the event that the work equipment is provided voluntarily by the employee, he or she will have the right to be compensated for its depreciation.

If the equipment is provided by the employer, the employer must provide the worker with the equipment in order to be able to perform updates, audits or maintenance on it.

An essential point that must be addressed is that it will be completely voluntary for the employee to carry out the remote modality if they began their employment relationship in person; The worker will have a period of 30 days to request his return, and the employer must agree to the request. However, if the remote modality was agreed upon from the beginning and agreed upon by both parties, any change in modality must be mutually agreed between the employer and the employee.

It is important to mention that the teleworker will enjoy the same individual and collective rights in terms of social security, pensions, legal benefits, occupational safety and hygiene, and union freedom that the worker enjoys in person.

By virtue of the situation in which the country finds itself due to the national emergency recently declared by COVID-19, the law contemplates as a transitional provision the possibility of applying teleworking in cases of national emergency, public calamity, emergency regime or suspension. of rights, and in any of these cases may omit the need to sign a teleworking contract or an addendum to the existing contract.

It is established that for everything relevant that is not provided for in the new Law, it will be used in a supplementary manner to the Labor Code and other laws that regulate labor relations between employers and private workers, as applicable.

For more information and legal assistance in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact Licenciada Beatriz Merino (Coordinator of the Labor Unit) at (503) 2505-5555 or email bmerino@romeropineda.com.

It will be a pleasure for us to serve you.