Modifying the Labor Code to allow companies to implement the exceptional extended workday of 12 hours a day, is a proposal being discussed in Costa Rica due to the need of industries that depend on continuous processes and encounter obstacles in the law.
In the Commission of Treasurers of the Legislative Assembly is initiative number 21,182, a parliamentary proposal that seeks to modify the Labor Code and update it according to present needs.
After the Guatemalan Constitutional Court suspended the implementation of differentiated salaries in 2015, the Giammattei administration plans to discuss the application of regional minimum salaries during 2021 and the plan is for them to enter into force in 2022.
In 2015 the Guatemalan government established differentiated salaries for the municipalities of Masagua in Escuintla, Guastatoya and San Agustín Acasaguastlán in El Progreso and Estanzuelas in Zacapa.
Focusing the skills of employees according to new opportunities and approving laws that allow for more flexible labor agreements are some of the proposals being discussed in Guatemala for companies to face the new labor reality.
Following the economic crisis that caused the outbreak of covid-19, the recovery and generation of jobs is one of the issues that occupies much of the attention of the government in Guatemala.
A decree was published in Panama authorizing the modification or temporary reduction of the working day, which due to the economic crisis generated by covid-19 may be reduced by up to 50%.
The new regulation establishes that the agreement to modify working hours must include methods to achieve the gradual recovery of working hours to the levels existing before the crisis and that they must not affect the hourly rate agreed in the current employment contract, reported the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development.
The Executive Branch endorsed the new law that allows companies to temporarily reduce the working hours agreed with their employees, in the context of the crisis generated by the covid-19 virus.
On the morning of March 21, the deputies gave the second debate with 47 votes and unanimous approval to file 21854, the law authorizing the reduction of working hours prior to the declaration of a national emergency, reported the Assembly.
After the approval in second legislative debate of the law authorizing employers to suspend, from the first day of demonstration, the payment of wages to public servants who go on strike, the file will go to the President, Carlos Alvarado.
The Plenary Session of the Legislative Assembly approved, with 35 deputies in favor and 13 against, in its second and final debate, Bill 21,049, which will regulate strikes by establishing new rules so that workers can exercise this right, the Legislative Assembly reported.
After listening to the observations made by Chamber IV, the deputies approved in first debate the law authorizing employers to suspend, from the first day of demonstration, the payment of wages to civil servants who go on strike.
After the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the legal framework regulating part-time work in Guatemala, a new proposal advances in Congress.
This is bill 5477 has received a favorable opinion from the Labor Commission of the Congress of the Republic and is pending discussion in the plenary of deputies.
How many hours you can hire under this modality and what type of coverage the Social Security will give these workers, are some of the doubts that businessmen still have in Guatemala.
Regarding the number of hours an employee can be hired, Juan Ernesto de León, vice-president of the Labor, Legal and Human Resources Committee of the Guatemalan American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), explained to Prensalibre.com that "...
Arguing that the regulations contradict some articles of the Political Constitution, in Guatemala union groups brought an action against the agreement that allows companies to hire part-time personnel.
After years of discussion, on June 27th Governmental Agreement 89-2019 was published in the Official Gazette. This Agreement establishes the Regulations of Convention 175 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which will regulate the hiring of part-time personnel in the country.
In Costa Rica, the Congress approved in first debate a bill that authorizes employers to suspend, from the first day of demonstration, the payment of wages to public sector workers who are on strike.
The Legislative Assembly voted in the first debate on file 21049, a law to provide legal security about the strike and its procedures, which seeks to eliminate the exaggerated privileges that employees of state entities have when they decree and execute a strike in the public sector, the Legislative Assembly informed on Tuesday, September 3.
Although working from home is considered a non-wage incentive because of the flexibility and benefits it provides to the employee, this mode of work is not yet a trend for companies in Guatemala.
Implementing work from home or home office, is a modality increasingly popular among executives and professionals who see the benefits that telecommuting provides. However, this forces companies to make certain changes that, it seems, not all are willing to make.
The power of public employees' guilds in the country was evidenced by the agreement that authorities of the Social Security Fund agreed to sign in order that employees of the entity may continue to enjoy privileges to the detriment of others.
EDITORIAL
Arguing that "judicializing" the strike was the only and best way out that could be achieved in the short term, the highest authorities of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) complied with the pressures of trade guild members, who with the desire to maintain the differential treatment they have enjoyed for many years, suspended access to basic health services, even carrying out actions as despicable as closing a blood bank and paralyzing equipment for cancer treatment.
Businessmen from Central America and the Dominican Republic ask that ILO Convention 190 not be ratified, arguing that countries already have regulations to deal with violence and harassment in the workplace.
The Federation of Private Entities of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (Fedepricap), through a statement dated August 9, reported that they agreed to request from the governments "... the non-ratification of Convention 190 of the International Labor Office (ILO), on which there was already a declaration against employers, with the purpose of not harming the generation of jobs.
Finally, in Guatemala the agreement was approved that will allow companies to hire part-time workers, which promises to be part of the solution to the unemployment problem affecting the country.
On June 27, Governmental Agreement 89-2019 was published in the Official Gazette, establishing the Regulations of Convention 175 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which will regulate the hiring of part-time workers in the country.