INTRODUCTION
1.1 Main Changes in the Past Year
The Labour Code was first enacted in 1992 and over the past few years there have been discus-sions among representatives of employers and employees regarding the possible amendment of certain provisions, however, no agreement has yet been reached.
Due to the pandemic, the Ministry of Labour issued Resolution 023/2020 on the Regulation of Telework as a Special Work Modality, and vari-ous bills have been submitted to Congress that work to include telework as a type of employ-ment agreement in the Labour Code.
Other bills currently pending before the Nation-al Congress refer to unemployment insurance, paid domestic work, incentives to the first job, rural work, prohibition of discrimination of work and occupation by age, equality of benefits, and an amendment to the social security system.
1.2 COVID-19 Crisis
In April 2020, the government put into place a solidarity fund to assist employees affected by the measures adopted to prevent COVID-19 (known as “FASE”).
The assistance was in the form of a subsidy paid directly to employees whose employment had been suspended. This programme also bene-fited manufacturing companies and small and medium-sized companies that kept operating without suspending employment; the govern-ment paid directly to employees, on behalf of the employer, a proportion of the salary.
