Spanish companies are preparing these days to take measures to face the crisis of the coronavirus with the least economic and social damage, limited by employment legislation. These measures must be planned and adjusted to the seriousness of the situation at all times, starting with the suppression of trips to areas of epidemic and finally providing for the possibility of applying for temporary layoffs (ERTE), as has happened with Futjisu, when production was stopped due to lack of supplies. Ericcson has opted for teleworking after detecting a positive result in its staff.

From Andersen Tax & Legal, Alfredo Aspra, partner of the firm's employment law area, recommends communicating the end and immediate return of the trips of those employees who are in one of the areas considered as "area with evidence of person to person transmission". The list, which is constantly updated officially, would allow the company to have an objective criterion to decide and order the return of its workers.

Medical service

In addition, Aspra points out that it is necessary to subject the worker, once he or she has returned and before starting to provide services, to a medical examination by the health surveillance service with which the company has subscribed the specialty of medicine in the workplace, in which it would be determined if he or she is infected. "From the logistical point of view, the company should ensure adequate coordination with its medical service, in order to try to keep the time between the employee's return to Spanish territory and his or her medical examination to a minimum, avoiding in any case contact with other colleagues, by means of either assignment to a temporary teleworking scheme or the granting of paid leave," explains the lawyer. "In both cases, until their state of health is clarified and known," adds Alfredo Aspra.

On the other hand, the lawyer recommends asking workers to inform the company about possible situations they have been exposed to that could pose a risk of contagion. "Each of the cases must be studied, and the adoption of possible measures adapted to the specific circumstances of each worker must be assessed, citing as an example the formula of teleworking during at least the incubation period of the virus, set at fourteen days by the health authorities," he adds.

You can read the full article in El Economista.