As the pandemic has changed the ways of accomplishing tasks and telecommuting has gained ground in all markets, flexibility in terms of where and when to work will be one of the factors most valued by employees in this new reality.
The threats caused by the spread of Covid-19, caused companies globally to look for new ways of working. Most teams chose to readjust their dynamics and focused on promoting remote work.
On third debate, Panama approved the legislative bill that aims at gradually reintegrating employees to their companies, which have already restarted their activities and which in 2020 suspended labor contracts due to the crisis caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
The National Assembly approved on February 24 bill No.542, submitted by the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), which allows the gradual reinstatement of workers with suspended contracts, recognizes the payment of maternity leaves to workers with suspended contracts, the return of disabled people and establishes temporary measures to preserve employment and stability of the companies, details an official statement.
The bill that extends until March 2021 the validity of the regulations that allow companies to reduce working hours was approved in the first debate.
In March 2020, when the first cases of covid-19 were registered, the "Law Authorizing the Reduction of Working Days following the Declaration of National Emergency" was approved. The validity of this regulation expires in December of this year, but a legislative project was approved in the first debate that seeks to extend the validity of the regulation until March 2021.
Because in Costa Rica the regulations authorizing companies to reduce working hours expire in December 2020, businessmen in the tourism sector are asking the Assembly to extend the deadline.
When the first cases of covid-19 were registered, the "Law Authorizing the Reduction of Working Days in view of the National Emergency Declaration" was approved. The validity of this regulation expires next December, but, the businessmen see the need to extend its validity.
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.
Restrictions on the movement of vehicles and people, and to some extent, the ban on office work, are forcing companies to reinvent their ways of operating and revolutionize their work culture.
Following the spread of covid-19, strict home quarantines were decreed in Central American countries. This scenario boosted the implementation of teleworking and forced companies to adapt to a new way of operating.
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 heeding the objection made by the Executive to the project approved in October 2019, the Assembly proceeded to give its endorsement to the law that establishes the rights and responsibilities of employers and workers in the country who use the telework modality.
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.
In El Salvador, the Administrative Litigation Chamber of Santa Tecla ordered the reopening of two of the five restaurants of the Mister Donut chain that had been closed weeks before by the authorities.
In October, authorities from the Ministry of Labor and Health decided to close five branches of the Mister Donut chain, arguing that the company breached labor rights, did not comply with safety standards, and that the remodeling work prevented it from complying with the required hygiene standards.