Government Emergency Ordinance no. 36 / 2021. Telework and WHS amendments
Context
Government Emergency Ordinance no. 36 (“GEO 36/2021”), effective as of 6 May 2021, (i) regulates the use of the electronic signature in employment relationships, on the one hand, and (ii) amends and supplements the telework law (Law 81/2018) and the law on work health and safety (Law 319/2006), on the other hand.
The main regulations relating to section (ii) above, are the following:
A. Amendment to Law 81/2018 on teleworking
-The definition of “telework” has been modified so as to eliminate from its contents the time-related delimitation requiring the activity to be performed as teleworking for at least one day per month;
-As regards the verification of the teleworker’s activity by the employer, an order of priority has been established, which is characterized by the main use of the IT&C technology;
-The obligation to indicate in the telework agreement the place / places where the teleworker’s activity will be performed has been eliminated;
-The employer’s obligations regarding the teleworker’s WHS training have also been reduced and simplified, meaning that the training should be performed in particular in the form of working information and instructions relating to the use of display screen equipment, thus removing the instructions specific to the place of teleworking, and the obligation to resume the WHS training upon change of the place of teleworking has been eliminated;
-The list of essential obligations incumbent upon the employee has been supplemented, meaning that the employee should comply with and ensure confidentiality of the information and documents used in teleworking.
B. Supplement to Law no. 319/2006 on work health and safety
-The proof of the WHS training can be made in hard copy or electronically, in this last case by using the advanced electronic signature or the qualified electronic signature.
