Telework extends to public service “with necessary modifications”

The presidential ministry clarified this Wednesday that remote work under labor law applies to public administration with “necessary adaptations” and plans to evaluate in the legislature a revision of the collective careers collective agreement on the matter.

“With regard to remote work, it is important to clarify that the regime provided for by the Labor Code applies, with the necessary amendments, to public administration,” said Luse, an official source in the President’s Ministry.

The Cabinet’s response comes after an additional round of talks this morning between trade unions and Public Administration Minister Inés Ramirez in Lisbon, during which the adaptation of the new rules of the Decent Work Agenda to the labor regime was about civil servants.

This is a new rule, approved by the Decent Work Agenda, which came into force this month, which provides for the establishment in the employment contract or collective agreement of the amount payable for the additional costs associated with remote work.

According to the Trade Union Front (Fesap) and the State Union of Technical Personnel (STE), during the meeting, the Secretary of State pointed out that this new rule does not apply directly to the civil service, since the industry’s collective agreements do not provide for the possibility of negotiating remuneration.

According to the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva, the remote work regime provided for by the Labor Code is applied, but “with the necessary changes.”

The same source emphasizes that in an agreement on the evaluation of civil servants, signed in October, “the government committed itself to evaluate in the legislature a revised instrument of collective labor regulation applicable to general professions in relation to the organization of working hours. , namely in terms of remote work.

The ministry also mentions that “until today” there is no “report on the demand for payment of expenses by employees of the public administration”, and recalls that, according to the latest informal data collection by government agencies, about 21 thousand workers are employed in remote work.

With regard to the increase in the amount of overtime pay for over 100 hours per year provided for by the Labor Code, the ministry said that “this is not a matter of coordination” with the state administration.

“In addition to many special career regimes, there are special rules in the General Law on Labor in Public Positions, namely regarding wage increases, so the regime provided for by the Labor Code is not directly applied,” the department explained.

Labor law provides that the amount payable for overtime work, starting from 100 hours per year, doubles and is 50% for the first hour or part thereof, 75% for the hour or the next part of the working day and 100%. for each hour or part of it, on a mandatory or additional weekly day off or on a public holiday.

This rule came into force on May 1, but employers and trade unions have a transitional period to amend collective agreements.