Luisa María Alcalde Luján, Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) and Zoé Robledo, general director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), announced that both institutions will undertake a “joint strategy” to prevent employers from refusing to receive permits Covid as it was enabled by Social Security, digitally, in order to break the chain of infections.
In a joint message, the officials stated that they are living difficult times, and it has been detected that 66.9% are workers seeking the Covid test to process disability, “it is clear that we have to make rational use of the test. It is necessary to raise awareness to identify these cases where proof is requested to request disability, it is not a matter of opinion, it is a legal issue, “said Robledo.
After pointing out that since 2020 these types of measures have been implemented, as was the case in March 2020, this way was found to break the chains of contagion; but this year there are other circumstances, “since last Monday the possibility of generating the permit as evidence for the employer was enabled on the IMSS page, in order to cover the disability.”
On the other hand, the STPS reported that the cost of Covid tests should not be charged to the workers; However, sectors of the employers consider that this should not be an obligation of the employer either.
In any case, it is the health institutions that are in charge of offering the tests, in this case the IMSS and ISSSTE, especially when the infections are massive, since the fees that are provided to health institutions must also cover the tests, he said. Adrián Castillo, partner of the De la Vega & Martinez Rojas law firm.
Vaccines
Labor specialists highlighted that in Mexico it is not possible for a company to require its workers to be vaccinated so that they can work; however, “there are certain measures that can be adopted to create a safe work environment:
- Practice periodic Covid tests on workers, which are allowed by the Federal Labor Law;
- Promote teleworking as a form of labor organization;
- Carry out permanent information campaigns on the pandemic and
- Follow hygiene measures to prevent and encourage vaccination, allowing workers who come to be vaccinated enough time to do so or even proposing compensation to do so.