COVID – 19 / Teleworking / Absences
The employer has a duty to ensure the protection of the safety and health of its workers (Article 127 of the Labor Code), so it must adopt the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the rules regarding safety and health at work.
The General Directorate of Health published Guideline 006/2020, addressed to Companies, which provides a set of procedures to be adopted in situations of possible contagion of COVID-19. They must establish a Contingency Plan, which provides for the procedures to be adopted before a worker with symptoms of contagion.
In order to guarantee the health and safety of all workers, one of the measures that the employer can adopt is the provision of the activity, by the worker, outside the workplace, namely through teleworking, provided that the functions allow it and the employer has a reasonable reason to fear the contagion of other workers. In this case, the worker maintains his right to remuneration, in general terms.
The Government issued Order 2875-A / 2020, of March 3, which adopts the measures to safeguard the social protection of the beneficiaries of the general social security regime, who are temporarily prevented from exercising their professional activity by order of the health authority, due to the danger of contagion by COVID-19, equating this situation with hospitalization, for the purpose of granting sickness benefit.
In the case of absences from work due to assistance to an infected or isolated family member, these are considered to be justified, imply the loss of the right to retribution, but the Worker may apply, with the social security, the subsidy for the assistance of a child, grandchild or third person, in general terms, being necessary to present enough proof of the disease.