Draft bill 143.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes to amend paragraph 9 of Article 128 of the Labor Code (Código de Trabajo), which sets out employer obligations. Under the proposed wording, employers would have to provide effective measures for alternating posture or physical recovery to workers whose duties require them to remain standing. The obligation would apply during the working day and refer to the measures established in paragraph 4 of Article 287 of the same Code. The proposal thus connects an employer obligation with the conditions required at workplaces and work sites.

It would also amend paragraph 4 of Article 287 of the Labor Code, among the measures all companies must adopt to protect workers’ morality and ensure their well-being at workplaces and work sites. Companies would have to provide workers whose duties require standing with measures for alternating posture or physical recovery. They would also have to ensure the conditions needed for those measures to be applied effectively during the working day. Possible measures include chairs, stools, ergonomic supports, brief recovery breaks, task rotation and relief by other workers. Other equivalent means could also be used.

If a particular measure could not be applied, the employer would still have to adopt other measures that are equivalent, effective and proportionate. Any limitation would have to rest on objective reasons related to continuity of the operation or service. The employer would bear responsibility for substantiating those reasons, subject to verification by the administrative labor authority. Consequently, inability to use one specific measure would not remove the obligation to enable workers to alternate posture or recover physically during the working day.

The draft bill sets out a specific rule for positions requiring workers to remain standing for surveillance, security, custody, access control, in person monitoring or similar duties. Employers would have to adopt measures compatible with the security requirements of the assigned position while allowing workers to alternate posture or recover physically. The proposed provision names relief by other workers, brief recovery breaks, changes of position and support points as possible measures, alongside other equivalent means.

Article 3 identifies the two provisions of the Labor Code that would be amended: paragraph 9 of Article 128 and paragraph 4 of Article 287. Article 4 provides that, if enacted, the law would enter into force three months after its promulgation in the Official Gazette. The proposal is submitted to the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional). Its provisions concern the administrative labor authority, companies and workers whose duties require standing, including those in surveillance, security and services involving access control or in person monitoring.