On third debate, Panama approved the legislative bill that aims at gradually reintegrating employees to their companies, which have already restarted their activities and which in 2020 suspended labor contracts due to the crisis caused by the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Assembly approved on February 24 bill No.542, submitted by the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), which allows the gradual reinstatement of workers with suspended contracts, recognizes the payment of maternity leaves to workers with suspended contracts, the return of disabled people and establishes temporary measures to preserve employment and stability of the companies, details an official statement.

The document states that “… this bill rescues and reaffirms some elements of Law No.157 of 2020, such as the regulation of the termination of the employment relationship by mutual agreement and the total cancellation of the benefits to which the worker is entitled after the suspension.”

With such norm, the reinstatement of workers is regulated gradually by economic sector, as follows: primary sector will have three months; the secondary sector six months and the tertiary sector up to eight months, adds the statement.

The document concludes that “… within the novelties of the project, Mitradel creates the National Unemployment Registry, with the purpose of having statistical data that will allow the promotion of clear public policies for the promotion of employment, being the first time that this data will be available and will be made viable through the computer platform of the Digital Government.”
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