Rigorous labor oversight of employers' labor decisions

Yesterday, March 19, 2020, the Ministry of Labor issued a call to private sector employers and workers to protect workers, stimulate the economy and employment, and sustain jobs and incomes in the crisis the planet is going through with the COVID-19 pandemic.

For this reason, the Ministry informed that, due to the suspension of terms at all sites, no authorization has been issued for the collective dismissal of workers, nor for the suspension of labor contracts.

This entity also indicated that the configuration or not of a force majeure corresponds in a functional manner to the Judge of the Republic, who will determine or not its existence, based on the evaluation of the facts submitted for his consideration.

He reminded that the employer must assess the functions in charge of the worker and the possibility of the performance of the same through the alternatives set forth in Circular 21 of 2020 such as: work at home, teleworking, flexible working hours, accumulated, anticipated and collective vacations, paid leaves and salaries without rendering the service. Likewise, it reiterated to employers that in these difficult times they should maintain the solidarity and support that has characterized them towards workers and their families, regardless of whether they are directly employed or on assignment, and therefore the previously mentioned alternatives should also be reviewed with them.

Finally, the Ministry of Labor indicated that it adopted the figure of Rigorous Labor Inspection, through which strict inspection, surveillance and control measures will be taken on the decisions adopted by employers in relation to labor contracts during the sanitary emergency declared by the Ministry of Health and the declaration of social, economic and ecological emergency declared by the President of the Republic.

It is clear that this Circular of the Ministry marks a political position in relation to what is happening, but that it must be in line with the labor standards that are in a higher hierarchy than those issued by the Ministry and that allow to protect the company in certain circumstances in order to safeguard them as the employment generating party in the labor relationship.