They present preliminary draft of Law to preserve employment and normalize labor relations

The Minister of Labor and Labor Development, Doris Zapata Acevedo, presented this Monday, February 8, before the Plenary of the National Assembly of Deputies, the draft of the Law on "Temporary Measures to Preserve Employment, Normalize Labor Relations and that dictates other provisions".

This draft law arises as part of the government's commitment to promote national development and maintain social peace and good relations between workers and employers in the midst of the health crisis caused by the pandemic.

During her presentation, Minister Zapata explained that this draft law proposes to regulate the gradual reinstatement of workers with suspended employment contracts in companies that have restarted their activities, in parallel to a process of extension of the suspension of the effects of the contracts of workers for companies that remain without operating by provision of the health authority and, especially, the process of request and authorization of the suspension of the effects of employment contracts, attending to restrictions on citizen mobilization, such as the total or partial quarantine, arranged within the State of National Emergency caused by COVID-19.

The draft law states in its articles that: Workers with suspension of the effects of their contracts will be reinstated to their jobs gradually, companies that are subject to the application of restriction measures of citizen mobilization may execute their activities through labor modalities such as teleworking, paid leave, work available and others contained in labor laws.

This regulation also proposes that, once companies have been authorized to restart their economic activities, they will reintegrate their workers month by month and the extensions of the suspension of contracts may not exceed five months, companies that maintain suspended workers, may not may hire new ones, the hiring of workers will be allowed only to perform different functions, it also establishes that any termination of the employment relationship by mutual consent must be in writing and will not imply the waiver of rights, among other issues of labor interest that were raised.

The preliminary draft establishes differentiations in the return, depending on the sector of the economy to which the company belongs. In addition, it contains special considerations for companies in the tertiary sector of the economy, the most affected by the pandemic. Similarly, with the precedent of Law 157 of 2020, an alternative method of calculating the seniority premium, vacations, thirteenth month and compensation, as appropriate, to which the worker whose contract was suspended is entitled is established. or their modified working hours, in accordance with the agreements of the Tripartite Table for Dialogue for the economy and Labor Development.

Additionally, we must mention that the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development, being the governing body of employment policies in the country, has identified the need to create a National Unemployment Registry, in order to have statistical data that allow promote public policies to promote Employment, development of soft skills and inclusion in the Labor Market.