On December 20, the Congress approved and sent for promulgation and publication the bill that modifies the Labor Code in matters of reconciliation of personal, family and work life.
Main changes
The bill introduces, among others, the following changes:
- Regarding, workers who have the personal care of a boy or girl under 14 years of age, or adolescent under 18 years of age with disability or in a situation of severe or moderate dependency:
- The employer, at the worker’s request, shall grant him/her a holiday preferably during the vacation period defined by the Ministry of Education, over other workers who are not in that situation.
The employee must submit the request at least 30 days in advance.
- During the vacation period, and when the nature of their duties allows it and the company operates on a schedule that is compatible, these workers will have the right to request a temporary modification of the shifts or the distribution of the daily and weekl
The employee must submit his proposal to the employer at least 30 days in advance. The employer must respond within the following 10 days, and may propose alternative formulas or reject, in which case he must prove the circumstances justifying his response.
The transitional modification must be recorded in an annex to the employment contract.
- Regarding, of the workers the personal care of a boy or girl under 14 years of age, or who is in charge of the care of a person with disability or in a situation of severe or moderate dependence (whatever their age), and who do not receive remuneration for that activity:
- Employers shall offer the worker that all or part of their daily or weekly working day may be developed in telework, to the extent that the nature of the functions allows it. The above shall not apply to workers who have the power to represent the employer, such as managers, assistant managers, agents or proxies.
The employer must respond within the following 16 days, being able to propose alternative formulas or reject, in which case the employer must prove that the nature of the functions does not allow teleworking. The worker must submit a written request with the proposed combination of face-to-face and teleworking time.
In case of accessing to such modality, the worker will be able to request its modification (with a minimum anticipation of 30 days). Also, by supervening cause, the worker and the employer (in this last case, by the fact of not being compatible the function of the worker with the telework), will be able to return unilaterally to the conditions originally agreed, having to notify to the other part with a minimum anticipation of 30 days.
The modification must be recorded in an annex to the employment contract.
- The union organizations may agree with their employer that during the vacation period defined by the Ministry of Education, these workers may request the temporary reduction of their working hours during all or part of that period.
Effective date
The amendments will become effective 30 days after their publication in the Official Gazette.
