On January 22, 2021, the Labor Directorate published its ruling No. 258/003, which complements the doctrine related to telecommuting and teleworking. Specifically, this opinion states the following:

1. The obligation to provide the equipment, tools and materials for telecommuting or teleworking, will be enforceable from the moment of agreeing such modality.

2. In turn, such obligation does not prevent the parties from agreeing that the worker may use elements of his property and that the employer may pay a reasonable and sufficient amount for its use for work purposes under an allowance.

3. Meanwhile, the allowance of collation that is agreed within the framework of teleworking maintains its compensatory nature and its granting must be made under the agreed terms. In addition, to grant, terminate or modify such allowance, will always require the written manifestation of both parties.

4. In the case of teleworkers excluded from the limitation of working hours, the parties are not obliged to agree on the mechanisms of supervision or control that will be used to supervise or control their functions.

5. Regarding the right to disconnection, the ruling states that this must be exercised considering that, in the case of workers who freely distribute their working hours, it is necessary for the worker to communicate the moment in which he/she will decide to initiate the right to disconnection in order to compute the 12 hours in which he/she is exempted from his/her obligation to respond to the employer’s requirements.

6. On the other hand, it is not appropriate for an employee excluded from the limitation of working hours to report the beginning or end of the period in which he/she makes effective use of the right to disconnection.

Should you require additional information on this matter, please contact: Alfred Sherman (asherman@jdf.cl) and/or Felipe Ovalle (fovalle@jdf.cl).