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March 2020: Special COVID-19 Issue

  March 2020

Articles

International Law

CENTRAL AMERICA - Solutions Provided by Labor and Employment Law to Face the Effects of the COVID-19: A Central American Panorama

The arrival of COVID-19 in Central America has profoundly affected the operations of companies, which in turn has posed enormous challenges for labor and employment law. The sanitary measures imposed by the Central American governments, with the exception of Nicaragua, ranging from the closure of certain activities (hotels, restaurants, sports activities) to limiting the transit of people (including curfews), has forced the search for legal solutions to face this new panorama.

International Law

GERMANY - Report

While particular workplace laws have not been altered yet in Germany, the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs made an urgent appeal to employers, asking them to find “pragmatic, unbureaucratic, and consensual solutions” together with their employees that will not lead to a loss of salary. Employers are encouraged to make use of home office solutions or flexible working time arrangements to cope with the current situation.

International Law

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION - ILO Issues Timely Guidance on COVID-19 and the World of Work

On March 18, 2020, the International Labor Organization issued timely guidance in the form of a 15-page note titled, COVID-19 and the world of work: Impact and policy responses. The note consists of a preliminary assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on the world of work and steps that policy makers, employers, and trade unions should take to mitigate these impacts.

International Law

ITALY - Report

The current emergency in Italy has necessitated strong changes in behaviors and the way working activities are performed. Several measures have been adopted to keep people at home, including a strong recommendation to employers to use remote working (by a special and easier procedure, which is aimed at avoiding employees having to go to the workplace so they can stay safely at home) and to assign – as much as possible – to such employees the maximum number of accrued holidays.

International Law

MEXICO - Large Informal Sector, Medical Supply Shortages, and Lack of Nationwide Unemployment Insurance Program Pose Challenges in Fight Against COVID-19

Mexico confirmed its first case of coronavirus on February 28 – a 35-year-old who had recently returned to Mexico City after traveling in Italy. The first case in City of Juárez, a major manufacturing center across the border from El Paso, Texas, was reported on March 1. By March 23, health officials in the State of Jalisco, home of Mexico’s “Silicon Valley” in the environs of the City of Guadalajara, had confirmed the third death from coronavirus in the country.

International Law

THAILAND - Report

The Thai government has ordered Bangkok and the surrounding provinces to temporarily shut down all venues considered high risks for spreading COVID-19 effective from March 22 to April 12. These venues include all shopping malls, cinemas, Thai traditional massage parlors, swimming pools, dine-in restaurants, beauty salons, gyms, sports centers, and boxing stadiums. Exceptions were made for supermarkets, pharmacies and food outlets offering take-out and delivery.

International Law

TURKEY - Report

As background, The Labor Code of Turkey has been in force since 2003. Every worker working in our country must be reported to the Social Security Institution (SGK), which is an efficient social security umbrella for workers. Social Security Institution (SSI) guarantees temporary incapacity benefits, and free health care and treatment of workers and dependents in state hospitals in case of illness, permanent incapacity allowance, and payment of old age pensions.