DECREE N° 01 ON FIRE FREEZE STATE OF ALARM TO ATTEND TO THE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 SANITARY EMERGENCY

Presidential Decree No. 4.167 was published in Official Gazette No. 6.520 Extraordinary of March 23, 2020. Through said Decree, Decree No. 01 in the frame of the State of Alarm to attend to the Coronavirus COVID-19 Sanitary Emergency was issued (the “Decree”). The Decree ratifies the fire freeze in favor of the workers of the public and private sector up to December 31, 2020. By reason of the foregoing, the workers protected by the fire freeze may not be dismissed or transferred, nor may their employment conditions be worsened, without a
justified cause previously approved by the Labor Inspector of their jurisdiction.

According to the Decree, the fire freeze will protect: (i) workers hired for an undetermined period of time after they have rendered services to an employer for one month; (ii) workers hired for a specific period of time and for a period of time established in a contract; and (iii) workers hired for a specific work, as long as the performance of their obligation is not completed.
The fire freeze will not apply to managerial workers and casual or temporary workers. The job security of public servants will be governed by the protection rules contained in the Law of the Statute of the Public Function.

The breach of the fire freeze prescribed in the Decree will entitle workers to demand restatement, payment of salaries and other benefits not received or restoration of the legal situation infringed, through the actions established in the Decree with the Status, Value, and Force of Organic Law on Labor and Workers (OLLW), within a period of thirty (30) calendar days following their dismissal, transfer or worsening of employment conditions; the processing of said requests will be given preference over any other proceeding by the Labor Inspectors.

Also, any employer who obstructs or fails to obey the order of employment restatement and restoration of the legal situation infringed and any employer who breaches the fire freeze will be penalized; in accordance with the Decree and the OLLW.

The Decree became effective upon publication of the same in the Official Gazette.

In order to access the Decree, please click here.

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