By: José Díaz and Eumir Quintero
1. Falls short of the Full-Blown General Health Contingency with work suspension outlined in Article 73 section XVI, subsections 2a., and 3a., of the Mexican Constitution, and it fulfills the specific case of suspension in accordance to Article 427, section VII of the Federal Labor Law, as it does not yet decree a 30-day furlough wherein minimum wage payment could become compulsory in accordance to article 429 section IV.
2. It encourages employers of “susceptible workers” * to grant them a fully paid leave of absence from work. This aspect is very controversial as to how to calculate wages for this class of workers.
3. It orders a suspension of school activity for the whole education sector to April 17, 2020.
4. It orders all public sector entities to adopt special continuance measures or plans to upkeep public services.
5. It establishes that private sector companies should continue functioning as a necessity to confronting the pandemic, and therefore: hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, laboratories, medical services, finance, telecom, media, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, supermarkets, various retail shops, transportation and distribution companies including fuels, provided its functioning does not rely on closed spaces wherein crowding (“aglomeraciones”) does not arise. The Decree lacked a specific definition of “crowding”.
6. All mass events for 100 people or more are temporarily suspended until further notice.
7. These rules are separate and apart for the specific cases of work suspensions such as lack of materials as outlined in sections I thru VI of article 427 of the Federal Labor Law, and others that apply to the cases of excess of production, lack of funds, impossibility of normal continuation of work as plainly demonstrated by employer, etc.
* Susceptible workers are defined as the ones over 65 years of age, or anyone potentially at risk of developing “grave illness or death” due to being handicapped, pregnant or breastfeeding children 5 years or younger, or any other chronic not transmissible illness due to hypertension, obesity, cardiac, metabolic or hepatic insufficiencies, or any other whose illness or medical treatment causes immune suppression.
If you have any questions, please send a message here to contact our labor law experts.
The content of this page is not and should not be considered legal advice, the information is for informational purposes only.
