As a result of the preventive social isolation and the health measures established in our country, in response to Covid-19, telework went from being the reality of a few to the new type of work chosen by many.
On November 12, 2020, the Ministry of Labor issued Resolution No. 23/2020, on the Regulation of Telework as a Special Work Mode. This new regulation provides for labor relations between employers and workers who carry out their work remotely and contemplates aspects such as reversibility, working hours, and disconnection.
According to the legal text, telework is defined as the “special type of work that is provided remotely, either partially or totally, making use of tools related to information and communication technologies.” This modality is voluntary and is subject to a written agreement between the parties, which must establish, among other things, the duration of said contract, the place where the work will be carried out, the supervisory system or mechanism respecting the privacy of the worker and the conditions to establish the reversibility of the benefit, be it from teleworking to face-to-face and vice versa.
On the other hand, the regulations express that, in order to proceed with reversibility, which turns out to be the right of both parties to request the change of work modality, a formal notification must be issued within a period of 30 days, without prejudice to that the parties agree on a different term, and the employer must notify said change to the General Directorate of Labor (DGT).
At the same time, it is necessary to specify that labor relations that begin with the teleworking modality will not have the right to reversibility without having a formal agreement between the parties. In the event of disagreement, it will be possible, by means of a reasoned request and notified to the counterpart, to request reversibility before the General Directorate of Labor (DGT), who will issue a resolution authorizing or rejecting said request within a period of no more than 15 days. It should be noted that reversibility does not operate until the aforementioned resolution is issued.
Regarding working hours, the resolution explains that the days will be subject to the provisions of the Labor Code and must be notified to the Ministry of Labor through the General Directorate of Labor (DGT) using the forms of the Integrated Labor Relations System ( SIRLA). Once the execution of teleworking has been agreed upon, the teleworker must be available for the requirements made by the employer during the working day and once it has concluded, the teleworker is assisted by the right of digital disconnection and may not answer requests and/or messages made outside of his working day usual work.
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