Labor Provisions During the COVID-19 Emergency

On March 12, 2020, the Ministry of Labor implemented telework for the public and private sectors during the health emergency. On March 15, 2020, it authorized companies to suspend, modify, or reduce the working day and, on March 16, 2020, the President of the Republic suspended in-person work and requested companies to adopt telework whenever possible. The suspension will remain in effect until April 13, 2020, and may be extended.

The working day may be modified or reduced. If a reduction of the working day is applied, salary payments may decrease in proportion to the reduction in working hours. The reduction may be made down to a minimum of 30 hours per week, instead of the usual 40-hour workweek.

Work activities that cannot be performed through telework and that are not part of the industries authorized to operate during the state of exception — such as the food, pharmaceutical, agricultural products, and animal care industries; strategic sectors; basic services; export chains; security and financial services; ports and airports — may be suspended.

For the suspension of the working day to apply, it must be proven that:

i) due to the nature of the work, it is impossible to adopt telework; and/or

ii) it is also not possible to apply measures such as modification or reduction of the working day.

If the suspension of the working day is applied, salaries must be paid in full, and the employee must make up the hours not worked.

Employees must make up the hours that were not worked once economic activities are reactivated. For this purpose, the employer may establish recovery schedules, which may include up to a maximum of 12 additional working hours per week and workdays of up to 8 hours on Saturdays, until the hours are recovered.

It should be noted that, if an employee refuses to make up the hours not worked, they must return to the employer the amounts that were paid during the suspension, or the employer may deduct such amounts from the next salary payment.