Employee Rights and Benefits: A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on Aug 2, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

Holidays

The worker shall be entitled to 30 days of paid holiday leave unless the employee is leaving the company, in which case they will receive wages proportionally reduced to the holidays accrued. The holiday schedule should be fixed by agreement between employer and employee. The employee is entitled to be informed two months in advance of their holiday start date.

Holidays are enjoyed by the calendar year. After one year, the holiday right expires, and no compensation can be claimed. When the holiday period set in the holiday calendar coincides with temporary disability leave, such as pregnancy or lactation, the employee shall be entitled to their vacation at a date different from the temporary disability or entitlement period. The employee must be informed of the vacation dates two months in advance. Employees are entitled to receive the same remuneration during their vacation as they are paid during the remaining months of the year.

Night Schedules

Work performed between ten o’clock at night and six in the morning is considered night work. An employee is considered a night worker if they perform no less than three hours of daily work during this period. This period is set uniformly for the whole year, regardless of any official changes to the schedule.

The times delimiting night work may be extended by collective agreement or individual agreement, but they can never be reduced. The length of time for night workers shall not exceed eight hours per day averaged over 15 days, and overtime is not permitted. Night work is prohibited for minors under 18 years of age.

Night work involves specified renumeration higher than daytime work unless the work is considered nocturnal. It also implies a salary supplement for night work that compensates for the hours worked during the night.

Shift Work

Shift work is a method of organizing work in teams where workers successively occupy jobs, according to a continuous or discontinuous rhythm, entailing the need for the worker to provide services at different times within a given period of days or weeks. A shift worker is an active participant in the changing or rotating schedule.

Changes to a worker’s shift constitute a substantial change in working conditions. If a worker is injured as a result, they are entitled to terminate the contract and receive 20 days of compensation per month for periods exceeding one year, with a maximum of nine months.

Shift workers must have at least 12 hours of rest between the end of one workday and the beginning of another. The weekly rest may accumulate for up to four weeks, and it can be taken as a half-day or a full day. A worker may work night shifts. Collective agreements will describe improvements to shift work through complementary measures.

Contract Work

A work contract is a covenant in which workers provide their services voluntarily in exchange for payment and within the areas of organization and direction of another person.

Features of a Work Contract

Compact: An agreement of wills between two defined subjects: the worker and the employer. To externalize the contractual intent, it should be expressed freely and without error, fraud, or violence.
Paid Services: Services have to be paid. The worker receives a salary that should be as close a match as possible to the value of the effort executed.
Organization and Management: Services are provided within the employer’s field of organization and management. The employee works within the employer’s organismic and disciplinary circle.
Alienation: The worker produces fruits that, from the time of production, belong to someone else.

Elements of an Employment Contract

Consent: This is the freely given agreement between the employer and the employee.
Purpose: This consists of the matter over which the will of the parties lies, i.e., the benefits to be exchanged by the worker and the employer.
Cause: This is the order sought by the parties when concluding a work contract. It would be the will of the employer and the worker to share work and retribution, serving an end: the production of goods and services.

Guarantees for Committee Members and Staff Delegates

Right to a Hearing: In the event of sanctions for serious or very serious offenses, a contradictory file must be opened, in which the interested party must be heard.
Priority in Employment Retention: Committee members and delegates have priority over other workers in cases of suspension or termination of employment contracts for economic reasons.
Protection from Dismissal and Discrimination: Committee members and delegates have the right not to be dismissed or punished during the year following the expiry of their mandate, except in cases of revocation or resignation, and provided that the dismissal is not based on the worker’s actions in the course of their representation. They shall also not be discriminated against in their economic promotion.
Freedom of Expression: Committee members and delegates have the right to freely express and disseminate their opinions on matters within their competence, without disturbing the normal development of work.
Paid Time for Duties: Committee members and delegates have a credit of monthly paid hours for the accomplishment of their duties.

Sections and Stewards

Worker union members may, in the field of business or employment, set up trade union branches in accordance with union statutes. They may receive information, hold meetings, collect union dues, and distribute information outside working hours without disrupting the enterprise.

Union sections of the most representative unions, committee members, or staff representatives are entitled to a notice board located in the workplace, which allows for the dissemination of notices to members and employees. They also have the right to collective bargaining in businesses with more than 250 workers.

In workplaces employing more than 250 employees, union sections formed by worker union members will be represented for all purposes by union delegates elected by and among members of the company. Stewards, if not part of the works council, will have the same assurances as members of works councils and staff representatives. They shall be entitled to the same information, may attend meetings of these committees, and must be heard by the company before adopting collective measures that affect workers in general and, in particular, their affiliates, in dismissals and sanctions.

Freedom of Association

All employees have the right to organize freely for the promotion and defense of their economic and social interests. Judges, magistrates, and prosecutors are excluded from exercising this right and may not belong to any union while they are active. Self-employed workers, the unemployed, and those who have ceased activity due to incapacity or retirement may join unions.

Freedom of association can be divided into multiple duties:

Right to Form Unions: Workers have the right to form unions without prior authorization. However, the constitution of a union can be refused if it lacks the formal and content requirements established by law.
Right to Democratic Procedures: Unions have the right to suspend their members through democratic procedures.
Right to Choose Union: Workers have the right to join the union of their choice, on the sole condition of adhering to its rules.
Right to Elect Representatives: Union members have the right to freely elect their representatives within each union.
Right to Union Activity: Unions have the right to carry out union activity within the enterprise and beyond, except within military establishments.

Trade unions are entitled to:

Autonomy and Self-Governance: Unions have the right to write their constitutions and rules, organize their administration and activities, and formulate their programs.
Form Federations and International Organizations: Unions have the right to form federations and international organizations, as well as to join and withdraw from them.
Protection from Dissolution: Unions cannot be suspended or dissolved except by a final decision of the Judicial Authority, based on major breaches of the law.
Exercise Union Activity: Exercising union activity in the company includes the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the approach to individual and collective disputes, and the presentation of candidacies for the election of works council members and staff representatives.