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In brief

By means of Resolution 54/2021, published on 5 February 2021, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security established that the Employment Legal Regime for Contracts of those Working From Home, set forth in Law No. 27,555 and Regulatory Decree No. 27/2021, will enter into force on 1 April 2021.


In more detail

Employers and employees need to be prepared to comply with the obligations stemming from such law and regulation. Please find below links to previous alerts with the main points of the law and its regulation.

Law No. 27,555: https://bakerxchange.com/cv/5f15449df94a40a0b4efb022e42f2f06786e7b16

Decree No. 27/2021: https://bakerxchange.com/cv/026f72ad0c233d5be72404ce46ec0dff61214786

We believe it would be convenient to implement a written policy, signed by employees, establishing guidelines for those employees actually working this way

We emphasize that the regime does not apply to: (i) those employees who perform tasks in customer establishments to whom the employer provides services on a continuous or regular basis; or (ii) cases in which working from home is carried out sporadically and occasionally.

Work guidelines should mention, for example:

  • a definition of working hours

Employers should consider if the working day will have interruptions due to lunch or family responsibilities (remember that employees with children under 13 years of age in their care, or people with disabilities or retired adults who live with them will have the right to a work schedule compatible with their care responsibilities and/or to interrupt their workday at certain times). It should also be established how communication from employees and authorization by employers will be carried out when employees need to interrupt their working hours to attend to personal matters. Similarly, an authorization regime should be established when employees must work in excess of the agreed workday due to the employers’ needs.

Employers should also consider when employees will be required to work in person, either because this is agreed for certain days of the week or because they are required to occasionally, or if they should cancel this modality if the employers consider it convenient.

  • definition of work tools

Remember that employers must provide work tools and assume the costs of their installation, maintenance and repair, or — in absence of that — compensate employees for the use of tools they own. It should be established that employees must ensure that other people do not use the work tools provided by employers.

  • definition of the expense compensation regime

Employers should define how they will compensate for the higher expenses for connectivity and/or consumption of services that employees must face. We emphasize that the law refers to higher expenses — not to expenses normally incurred by employees. The regulation established that compensation for these higher expenses, even without receipts, is not considered remunerative.

  • definition of safety and hygiene issues

Recommendations to be implemented by employees, and the possibility of inspecting the home to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations should be mentioned.

There are some pending regulatory issues. How employers who use this type of work must register, and the registration of the platforms and software to be used have not yet been regulated. The Superintendency of Occupational Risks will regulate matters relating to the health and hygiene of teleworking.

We are available to discuss this policy and the need to write one for your company.

Spanish version

Author

Daniel Orlansky practices mainly in the areas of employment and labor law. He is a litigator and handles complex litigation cases. He also frequently lectures on employee mobility and expatriate issues.