Castellán

In that context, the authorities have established the adoption of prevention measures, and among other resolutions, obligations have been determined for employers in order to mitigate the spread of the pandemic in the workplace, thus complying with the duty to preserve the safety and hygiene of workers and society as a whole.

The National Council of Safety and Health at Work (CONASSAT) agreed in a tripartite manner last Friday on a resolution to adopt preventive and action measures, considering that every employer is responsible for providing welfare, safety, and hygiene measures, so that work activities are carried out without risk to the health of workers.

Below, we inform about the key aspects that companies must consider:

- The worker is obliged to inform the company of any work situation that he/she considers to involve an imminent and serious danger to his/her life or health, such as having recently traveled to the designated risk areas. Authorities have already determined that workers who must remain in mandatory quarantine for this reason will be covered by sickness benefits.

- It is the employer's responsibility, the Bipartite Safety Commission (Decree No. 291/007, as amended by Decree No. 244/016), as well as the Occupational Health and Safety Services (Decree 127/014, as amended by Decree No.126/019) to coordinate the necessary mechanisms for the preparation of prevention, control, and action protocols against the aforementioned risk, according to the nature and characteristics of each company or institution.

- The Ministry of Labor and Social Security recommends that prevention, control, and action protocols contain the following guidelines:

- Inform workers about the prevention, control, and action measures issued by the Ministry of Public Health (for example, by placing informative posters on proper hand hygiene, distance between people, etc.)

- Provide the necessary hygiene material to comply with control measures, such as sufficient amounts of alcohol.

- Increase hygiene measures through the maintenance and disinfection of equipment that project air, such as air conditioners, etc., disinfection of work clothing, personal protective equipment, and surfaces to which workers are exposed, in activities that require it.

- Organize work as much as possible in order to minimize the risk of virus spread, for example by implementing remote work, avoiding trips abroad, etc.

- Establish action mechanisms in case a worker shows symptoms of the disease (anticipating the participation of the Occupational Health and Safety Services provided by Decree 127/014 if the company has them, or the appropriate medical service for the worker).

- When a sick or symptomatic worker is detected, quickly adopt control measures for the rest of the workers who were in contact with the potential infected person, within a period not less than 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms of the disease.

Likewise, with the aim of anticipating some of the questions that may arise in organizations and companies in this scenario, we include some initial guidelines:

- Remote work or working from home is currently not legally regulated, being optional for the company or organization to implement. Measures can be taken, at the discretion of the company, to reorganize the entry and exit of employees so that there is no concentration of people, reducing entry and exit times for each sector.

- Attendance at work is mandatory unless legally justified, and so far the authorities have not taken any measures in this regard. If workers are absent, for example to take care of children due to school closures, they may lose their salary. However, since this is an exceptional situation (also unprecedented) we suggest seeking legal advice and assistance to analyze in each specific case whether the application of sanctions is appropriate or convenient. We understand, for example, that a particular approach should be taken for workers over 60 years of age, pregnant women, and other people with risk factors (immunodeficiency, respiratory insufficiency, heart failure, oncological diseases, and health conditions that are duly justified).

- Day laborers could be sent to unemployment insurance due to lack of work (layoff) even for a short period of time (days). With monthly workers, we do not have that same option, so if companies close, they should still be provided with work (e.g. doing internal tasks while ensuring the sanitary measures that the authorities have established). Otherwise, they should receive their salary, even if they do not work, or they could be placed on layoff as long as the suspension period includes at least a full calendar month (e.g. 16/03 to 30/04).

- If the cessation of activity is mandatory, a negotiation path could be opened with the workers, due to the exceptional nature of the case (force majeure).

In conclusion, the adoption of prevention and control measures in all companies and organizations is mandatory and of fundamental importance, adapting them according to the possibilities in accordance with the type of activity carried out and always prioritizing the care of workers, clients, and society as a whole.

Montevideo, March 15, 2020