The upper house today signed into law, without the support of the opposition, the regulations that regulate teleworking, at a time when the modality is expanding as a consequence of the social and compulsory isolation that prevails in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The initiative obtained 40 votes in favor of the official Frente de Todos and the Frente Renovador de Misiones, and 30 against Together for Change, the Federal Parliamentary Interblock and the Together We Are Río Negro Front, a regular ally of the ruling party.
The Together for Change caucus signed a minority opinion in disagreement with aspects of the law that, in their opinion, made regulation “more rigid” and “discouraged” employers from promoting jobs of this nature.
Representing the ruling party, Mariano Recalde defended the project, noting that “it does not emerge in a hurry”, he stressed that he had “broad consensus in the Chamber of Deputies” and affirmed that the law “guarantees rights that already exist, that if not respected they would push the country back 100 years. “
“It is very healthy that the law prohibits the employer, for example, from making calls outside of working hours,” he said, noting that the question of the reversibility of the telework format – one of the points questioned by the opposition – reaches with notice. 15 days.
The head of the senators of Cambiemos, Luis Naidenoff, declared that “there is a biased view (of the oficialismo) with this idea of not accepting changes” and pointed out “lack of common sense”, since the law “puts a brake on the sources working “and shows” a huge awkwardness from the political “.
Naidenoff questioned the point of reversibility, noting that “to hire interior workers, for example, they can be considered dismissed if the employer does not rent an office space” and questioned that the Front of All “seeks to attack and advance”, despite that the Minister of Labor, Claudio Moroni, did not oppose it.
The main points of the new regulation
● People who work under the telework modality will enjoy the same rights and obligations as those who work under the face-to-face modality
● The remuneration of teleworkers may not be less than that received in person and collective agreements must provide for a combination of on-site and teleworking benefits.
● The working day must be previously agreed in writing in the employment contract, in accordance with the legal and conventional limits in force.
● The platforms and / or systems used by the employer for the purposes of teleworking must be developed according to the working day, preventing their connection outside it.
● The right to digital disconnection is established. This implies that the teleworker will have the right not to be connected to digital devices and / or information and communication technologies outside of their working hours and during periods of leave. Neither can it be sanctioned for making use of this right.
● People who work in care tasks and demonstrate that they have sole or shared responsibility for the care of people under 13 years of age, people with disabilities or older adults who live with the worker and who require specific assistance, will have right to schedules compatible with the tasks of care under their care and / or to interrupt the day.
● The change from a face-to-face work position to one of telework, except in cases of duly accredited force majeure, must be voluntary and the consent must be given in writing. That consent will be reversible at any time in the employment relationship.
● The employer must provide the equipment, work tools and support necessary to carry out the tasks. Likewise, they will have to assume the costs of their installation, maintenance and repair, or compensate for the use of the worker’s own tools.
● The worker will be responsible for the correct use and maintenance of the elements and work tools provided by his employer and must ensure that they are not used by people outside the employment relationship or contract.
● The teleworker will be entitled to compensation for higher expenses in connectivity and / or consumption of services that must be faced. This compensation will be exempt from the payment of Income Tax.
● The employer must guarantee the correct training in new technologies, which can be carried out jointly with the representative union entity and the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security of the Nation.
● Teleworkers will enjoy all collective rights, and will be considered, for the purposes of union representation, as part of all those who work in person.
● Union representation will be exercised by the trade union for the activity in which the workers provide services. Those who carry out telework must be attached by the employer to a work center, productive unit or specific area of the company, in order to choose and be elected to form the bodies of the union association.
● The enforcement authority will dictate the rules related to occupational hygiene and safety in the field of teleworking, to provide adequate protection for workers under this modality. It will also determine the inclusion of diseases caused by this labor modality within the list of art. 6 inc. 2 of Law 24,557. Accidents occurring at the place, day and on the occasion of teleworking will be presumed work accidents in accordance with art. 6 inc. 1 of the mentioned law.
● The control systems intended to protect the employer’s property and information must have union participation to safeguard the intimacy and privacy of the worker’s home.
● The employer must also guarantee the protection of the data used and processed by the person who works under the telework modality for professional purposes, not being able to make use of surveillance systems that violate privacy.
● With regard to transnational benefits, the respective employment contract of the law of the place of execution of the tasks or the law of the employer’s domicile, whichever is more favorable for the worker, will apply. In the case of contracting foreign persons not resident in the country, the prior authorization of the enforcement authority will be required. Collective agreements must establish a maximum limit.
● The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security of the Nation will be the authority to apply the new law and must regulate it within 90 days. Within the scope of its competence, the companies that develop this modality must be registered, accrediting the system or platform to be used and the list of people who carry out these tasks. Any inspection by the enforcement authority, if necessary, must have prior authorization from the person who works.
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