The Ministry of Labor, in its role of safeguarding and promoting labor human rights, fundamental principles, and the right to association and strike, issued Circular 0071 of November 30, 2022, whereby it repealed the circulars issued within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic and Circular 049 of 2019. The aforementioned circulars, with the exception of 049 of 2019, were issued throughout the pandemic in pursuit of achieving significant improvements for workers and with the aim of overcoming those labor challenges.
Likewise, in the concomitant relationship between employer and worker, different mechanisms were created to cope with such a difficult situation, bringing with them a notable effort to keep those labor ties protected. Therefore, since the health emergency was successfully overcome and in order to avoid possible future labor confusion, the Ministry of Labor repealed the circulars that were created exceptionally and temporarily for these reasons, among which are the following:
Circular 017 of 2020: It was created to promote the minimum guidelines to be implemented within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic, which established the preparation, promotion, prevention, response, and care for cases of COVID-19 illness.
Circular 0021 of 2020: It presented the guidelines that employers should take into account in order to protect employment and the productive stage, thus recalling viable alternatives under the legal system, such as working from home, teleworking, flexible working hours, work shifts, reorganization of the working day, annual, anticipated, collective vacations, paid permits, and salary without provision of service.
Circular 0022 of 2020: It was created to regulate the employer regarding the requirement of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) test for applicants to occupy a job, protecting the right to work against discrimination, equality, intimacy, and privacy in relation to the health of its workers.
Circular 0027 of 2020: Through this circular, it was established that employers cannot force workers to request and/or access unpaid leave under the pretext of maintaining employment; the Ministry of Labor deployed surveillance and control over companies that pressured their workers to sign this type of leave.
Circular 0033 of 2020: It indicated additional employment protection measures, taking into account that mandatory isolation measures were extended during the COVID-19 health emergency; additional measures were created such as leave, compensable remuneration, modification of schedules, salary agreement, modification or suspension of extra-legal benefits, and agreement on conventional benefits.
Circular 041 of 2020: It was created to promote the basic guidelines for working from home and its proper development, being mandatory during the COVID-19 health emergency not only for workers and employers, but also for the occupational risk administrator ARL.
In addition to the aforementioned circulars, Circular 0071 of November 30, 2022 also repealed Circular 049 of 2019, which, although not issued within the framework of the pandemic, did have significant importance because it created guidelines for labor and social security inspectors regarding the process of authorizing the dismissal of workers with disabilities or with reinforced labor stability due to health reasons; however, in the issuance and legality of the circular, the right to participation was violated since it did not include the participation of workers, union organizations, and associations of workers in a condition of manifest weakness, thus transgressing the right to participate in decisions that affect them.