With 17 thousand dismissals due to “force majeure”, the Minister of Labor admits that there was an abuse of this cause

In total, there are 173 thousand unconnected workers

The Minister of Labor, Luis Poveda, affirmed that during this period of just over three months of health emergency caused by COVID-19, 17 thousand workers were dismissed due to a fortuitous event or force majeure. He admitted that there was an abuse by employers of this article in the Law.

Because he had other commitments to fulfill, the Minister of Labor briefly appeared before the National Assembly’s Workers’ Rights Commission and left the virtual session, without giving way to questions from the legislators.

In his speech, the minister revealed that, in total, during this health emergency there were 173,000 dismissals, including those by mutual agreement between employers and workers.

Poveda mentioned that, if an employer is dismissed for this cause, provided for in article 169, numeral 6, the employee cannot access any type of compensation and “does not even generate the eviction bonus.”

Because there was a misuse of this cause, he said, in the partial veto of the draft Humanitarian Support Law, the Executive clarifies the use of this figure and specifies that when invoking this cause, the employer, within 24 hours, must justify the reasons and notify the worker. Likewise, in the event that the improper use of this figure is determined, the Labor Judge will order the payment of a remuneration and a half to the worker, for each year of service.

Assemblymen criticized that the minister has unexpectedly withdrawn from the virtual session, so they will convene Poveda again for June 15, 2020.