Within this regulatory framework, the Government has approved theRoyal Decree Law 28/2020, of September 22, on Remote Work, based on the fifth agreement reached by the Executive coalition with employers and unions, within the framework of social dialogue, and from which we highlight the essential aspects of the same:

1.- Who can telework?

All workers who want to may adopt this modality, by mutual agreement with their company, establishing the rule of limitations for those under 18 years of age and for workers with a training or internship contract. In such cases, at least a fifty percent percentage of face-to-face service provision must be guaranteed.

2.- In what cases can we speak of teleworking?

When remote work is provided, in a reference period of three months, a minimum of 30% of the worker's day. The new standard defines teleworking as "that distance work that is carried out through the exclusive or prevalent use of computer, telematic and telecommunication media and systems."

In this way, occasional teleworkers or those workers who only telework one day a week, for example, are outside the norm.

3.- Principle of equal treatment, opportunities and non-discrimination:

The norm recognizes equal rights for remote and face-to-face workers, both for remuneration purposes, job stability, working time, training and promotion within the company, and the collective rights of workers under the system of employment must be guaranteed. teleworking (participation in meetings, communications with legal representatives, etc).

People who perform remote work have the same rights as face-to-face workers in terms of conciliation and co-responsibility, including the right to adapt the working day ex article 34.8 of the Workers' Statute, in order not to interfere with work with life personal and family.

4.- Voluntariness of distance work:

Remote work is voluntary for both the worker and the employer, and must be in writing, without it being imposed unilaterally by the company.

The refusal of the worker to work remotely, the exercise of reversibility to face-to-face work and the difficulties that remote work entails for the worker, will not be justifying causes of the termination of the employment relationship or of the substantial modification of the working conditions.

The decision to work remotely from the face-to-face work modality will be reversible for both parties, and this circumstance must be fixed either in the private agreement that is signed or in the terms established for this purpose in collective bargaining.

5.- How should the teleworking agreement be defined?

It must be carried out in writing, formalizing it before the remote work begins. A copy of the agreement will be delivered to the workers' legal representation, as well as to the employment office.

6.- Minimum content of the agreement:

The document must contain a specification of the means, equipment and work tools, including consumables and furniture - in addition to establishing their useful life, the maximum period to renew it -, the expenses for teleworking, the working hours and the availability rules, the percentage of teleworking and face-to-face work, the distance work place chosen by the worker for the development of distance work, the duration of the agreement, the deadlines in case of reversing teleworking, as well as the means of business control of the worker activity.

The instructions of the company on data protection and information security must be collected. Finally, the duration of the distance work agreement must be stated.

7.- Possibility of modifying the agreement:

The modification of the conditions contained in the distance work agreement, including the percentage of presence, must be agreed by the parties, and the legal representation of the workers must be notified in this regard.

8.- Right to a professional career in the field of the company:

Companies must guarantee the participation of workers who are teleworking in the training actions promoted by the company and in terms equivalent to face-to-face workers, and must guarantee the necessary training for the correct development of their activity.

In the same way, all workers must have the same right to professional promotion, and the company must inform the company of the possibilities of promotion that may occur, either in face-to-face or remote development positions.

9.- Right to use material resources of the company:

The companies must procure the means, equipment and sufficient tools for the development of the activity, having to guarantee the precise attention for the assumption of technical difficulties.

10.- Right to payment and compensation of expenses:

The development of remote work must be paid for or compensated by the company, and may not suppose the assumption by the worker of expenses related to the equipment, tools and means linked to the development of their work activity.

11.- Right to flexible hours and time registration:

Provided that the mandatory availability times and the regulations on work and rest time are respected, the person who performs remote work must comply with the terms established in the agreement that has been signed with the company regarding teleworking. The record of working time must accurately reflect the time spent on work activity, without prejudice to flexible hours, and must include, among others, the time of start and end of the day.

12.- Prevention of occupational hazards:

Special attention will be paid to psychosocial, ergonomic and organizational factors. In particular, the distribution of the day, the times of availability and the guarantee of breaks and disconnections during the day must be taken into account. The risk assessment will only affect the area enabled for teleworking space, and the worker must give his consent in the event of visits to his home for these purposes. If such permission is not granted by the worker, the preventive activity may be carried out based on the determination of the risks derived from the information collected from the worker according to the instructions of the prevention service.

13.- Right to privacy and data protection:

The use of telematic means and the control of labor provision through automatic devices will adequately guarantee the right to privacy and data protection, not being able to install programs or applications on devices that are owned by the worker.

14.- Right to digital disconnection:

Remote workers have the right to digital disconnection outside of their working hours, expressly establishing the limitation of the use of technological means of business and work communication during rest periods, as well as respect for the maximum duration of the day. .

Telework implemented as a result of the health crisis derived from Covid 19 (article 5 RD Law 8/2020) will be subject to ordinary labor regulations; in the same way, said regulation will not be applicable either to the civil servants or to the labor personnel of the Public Administration, which must have its own and specific regulation for remote work.

Said standard, which will come into force twenty days after its publication, will entail a change in the organizational and control powers on the part of the companies, the standard not making clear the reason why the workforce in charge of public administrations It cannot enjoy these regulations, given that its regulation is covered by the Workers' Statute.

Once again, the legislator has lost another opportunity to regulate in a more specific way the material content of this right, as well as the specific obligations of the company for its guarantee and effectiveness, leaving its regulation in the hands of collective bargaining or agreements of business.

Finally, taking into account that the Labor Inspectorate will ensure compliance with the regulatory framework, specialized advice will be necessary in order to correctly adapt the agreement that the parties intend to establish in matters of distance work.

Covid-19 i accident de treball: dificil repte empresarial

La crisi sanitària derivada del COVID-19 ha suposat un canvi en les relacions laborals, apareixent figures del tot desconegudes, almenys en la seva nomenclatura, pel dret social (recordem el mal anomenat “permís retribuït recuperable”, que tanta confusió va crear al àmbit jurídic).

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RDLey 24/2020 on social measures for the reactivation of employment and the protection of self-employment and the competitiveness of the industrial sector, which ranks eighteenth among those that have contained socio-labor matters during this health crisis arising from COVID 19, is the result of an agreement on social dialogue (the II Agreement in Defense of Employment (II ASDE), reached between the Government and the social partners.