With the significant increase in the number of people contaminated in Brazil by the new coronavirus and the recent classification by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, the number of clients asking how to address the issue under the labor aspects and the consequences for employees and employers has increased.
Basically, we are assessing the matter from two perspectives: companies that have already had employees testing positive for the virus and others that have not yet had any employees contaminated.
For companies that have an employee infected by coronavirus, the authorities’ recommendation has been to immediately remove the contaminated person from the work environment and have extra attention on the others with whom there was contact.
From a legal perspective, the sick leave due to coronavirus is the same as any other leave due to a common illness, that is, the person presents a medical certificate and the first 15 days are supported by the employer and, from then on, by INSS [Social Security] through sick pay.
Please note that although this is a non-occupational viral disease, there is already some discussion about the possibility of classifying the coronavirus as an occupational disease if the transmission occurs in the work environment, both between two workers or between the worker and a third party (customer, service provider, supplier, etc.). One of the most frequent examples is that of people who deal with the public and who, due to the nature of the activity, are more exposed to contamination. These are waiters, supermarket cashiers, medical professionals, etc.
Therefore, in the hypothesis of any case of coronavirus being identified in your company, as a caution, we recommend that the company DOES NOT issue the Work Accident Communication – CAT.
Another aspect to be considered concerns companies that choose, voluntarily and preventively, to close their doors for some time. How to deal with the labor issue? Although the Federal Government has recently passed a legislation with measures to tackle the disease, there is no reference to how private companies should deal with it with their employees. Therefore, for the companies that intend to temporarily suspend their activities, our initial suggestions are:
- Home office – it is a great option to avoid the complete downtime of the company, but it comes up against some problems, such as: it does not apply to all employees, since due to the nature of the activity many people cannot work remotely and not everybody have equipment and infrastructure at home.
- Collective or individual vacation – this would be the best option to keep employees at home, anticipating the vacation. However, we would like to remind you that vacation requires 15 days prior notice, in case of collective vacation, and 30 days in case of individual vacation.
- Bank of hours – this is an option for all employees submitted to time control. Thus, the hours not worked from the suspension of the activities are placed in the bank and may be required later (in the form of overtime), when the company’s activities return to normal.
- Paid leave – in this modality, the employee will simply not work during the period of suspension of activities and nothing may be required by the company in the future.
The temporary suspension of the activities does not exempt the company from paying the wages regarding the respective period.
L.O. Baptista’s labor team remains at your disposal to clarify any doubts.
