Article 4.- The COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety Protocol was born as a result of the mandatory insurance COVID-19 LAW N°21.342 and is applicable to each company which shall contain at least:
- Daily testing of the temperature of personnel, clients and other persons entering the company’s premises.
- Contagion testing according to the norms and procedures determined by the health authority.
- Measures of safe physical distancing in:
- The work stations, according to the characteristics of the activity.
- Locker rooms, change rooms, restrooms and showers, dining rooms, and circulation routes.
4. Availability of soap and water, easily accessible, and certified alcohol gel dispensers close to the work stations.
5. Periodic sanitization measures of work areas.
6. Means of protection made available to workers, including certified multipurpose and reduced environmental impact masks, and, when required by the activity, gloves, goggles and work clothes.
7. Capacity definition and control, which must include a counting procedure that includes both workers and the public, as well as measures to prevent crowds in places where the public is present.
8. Definition of shifts, ensuring differentiated entry and exit times, different from the usual ones, to avoid crowds in public passenger transportation.
9. Other measures as provided by the health authority in use of its regulatory powers, in accordance with the evolution of the pandemic.
Article 6°.- The companies, in no case, may charge the workers, regardless of their contracting modality, the value of the inputs, equipment and conditions of the measures adopted.
What are the transitional measures?
Article 7°.- Companies that do not have a COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety Protocol, under the terms indicated in Article 2°, may not resume or continue the on-site work activity.
Companies that, at the time this law enters into force, are performing face-to-face labor activities, must prepare the referred protocol and take the measures foreseen, within a term no longer than ten working days from the date of publication of this law.
Work accident by Covid:
Article 8: «Companies that restart or continue work without having the COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety Protocol, referred to in Article 2°, shall be subject to the provisions of the final paragraph of Article 68 of Law No. 16,744.
When the COVID-19 infection is due to the employer’s or a third party’s fault, letter b) of article 69 of Law No. 16,744 shall apply. Failure to comply with the rule contained in the first paragraph of article 2° of the present law, shall be aggravating in case it is determined that the contagion of a worker by COVID-19 was due to the employer’s fault.»
- Article 68 final paragraph of Law No. 16,744: «The National Health Service is empowered to close factories, workshops, mines or any workplace that poses an imminent risk to the health of workers or the community».
- Article 69 letter b) of Law No. 16,744: «The victim and other persons to whom the accident or illness causes damage may claim from the employer or third parties responsible for the accident, also the other indemnities to which they are entitled, in accordance with the prescriptions of common law, including moral damage.»
How is the issue of medical leave for Covid?
Article 9: «During the validity of this law, Article 14 of Decree with force of law No. 44, of 1978, of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, shall not apply with respect to medical leaves of absence due to COVID-19 of any nature. The worker on preventive leave shall have the same rights he/she enjoys in temporary disability leaves.»
Article 14 of Decree with force of law No. 44: «The allowances shall be accrued from the first day of the corresponding medical leave, if it is longer than ten days, or from the fourth day, if it is equal to or less than ten days».
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