translated from Spanish: Chamber of Deputies approves in general project that grants iro and additional rest to health personnel

The Chamber of Deputies today approved in general the bill that seeks to grant benefits of a labor nature, such as stay and complementary rest, to health personnel who have worked during the validity of the constitutional exception decree of catastrophe due to public calamity, in times of pandemic due to Covid-19
The initiative, now sent to the Health Commission for the determination of its articles after the presentation of indications, states that, during the validity of the constitutional state of emergency of catastrophe due to public calamity and for up to one year after the end of its last extension, all management personnel will enjoy labor jurisdiction , professional, technical, administrative and auxiliary of the health sector.
Specifically, health service officials are mentioned as beneficiaries (the indications are in line with the limits of this universe); primary care; the Undersecretariats, Superintendency and Regional Ministerial Secretariats of the sector; the Institute of Public Health; the Supply Plant (Cenabast); the Legal Medical Service; of the National Health Fund (Fonasa).
To these are added the officials of the experimental health facilities and university and institutional hospitals of the Forces of Order and Public Security that perform functions in the care network during the Covid-19 pandemic; self-managed networked establishments in the country; and, in general, of the healthcare network that are public or private health providers, as well as pharmacies and pharmaceutical warehouses, without distinction of the contractual quality by virtue of which they are linked to said providers.
In the case of officials of municipal primary health care establishments, the provisions established in Law 19,378 and approved since September 2019 will be in place.
The employer’s right to terminate employment contracts shall be deemed to be suspended on the grounds of untonny circumstances, force majeure or the needs of the enterprise (articles 159 and 161 of the Labour Code) in respect of workers who have an employment relationship at the time of entry into force of this Law.
The motion was presented by deputies Karol Cariola (PC), Juan Luis Castro (PS), Boris Barrera (PC), Ricardo Celis (PPD), Miguel Crispi (RD), Diego Ibáñez (CS), Claudia Mix (Commons), Patricio Rosas (IND), Guillermo Teillier (PC) and Victor Torres (DC), seeking to grant concrete recognition to the country’s health personnel.
Special rest
The civil servants, workers and newly indicated, who were providing services as of March 18, 2020, without distinction of the contractual quality by virtue of which they are linked to said services, will be entitled to a special compensatory rest of fourteen working days, with remuneration and compatible with the corresponding legal holidays.
The aforementioned rest must be used continuously within the period of two years from the publication of this law and will count as days worked for all purposes.
The request for compensatory rest will be made by the mechanisms provided for requesting legal holidays and it will be the prerogative of the worker or official to determine the date on which he will make use of the rest within the validity established by law.
Those belonging to the management establishment who are the exclusive confidence of the President of the Republic or of the authority empowered to make the appointment shall be exempt from these benefits.
In addition, for the same period already indicated, it is indicated that the use of medical leave due to Covid-19, whether for confirmed case, suspicion or close contact, or for causes associated with stress, depression or mental health in general, will not be considered for the purposes of the health declaration incompatible with the charge.
For all purposes of Law 16,744, which establishes rules on accidents at work and occupational diseases, occupational disease of prescribed health workers, those psychiatric and physical disorders caused by occupational attrition and the psychosocial risks to which they have been exposed since the entry into force of the constitutional state of emergency of catastrophe due to public calamity, will be considered.
Also, contracting Covid-19 will be considered an occupational disease at all events, taking into account the risks of theτ ττετ
The Public Sector Budget Law may establish different measures for the rehabilitation, both physical and psychological, of health workers who have sequelae due to occupational diseases contracted during the extension of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Original source in Spanish