• This is how it will work remotely (II). Who benefits from teleworking?

  • This is what it will be like to work remotely (III) Telework, from organizational to psychological change

We have been asking for a specific legislation on teleworking in Spain for a long time, because until now it was necessary to comply with the provisions of European regulations, with the European Framework Agreement on Telework, the Workers' Statute and some parts of the rules in which without having anything To do with this issue, some cover articles had been included to patch up the regulation on telework.

Now, with the Decree Law on Distance Work published this Thursday, we already have the expected legislation, but it just happens to be a legislative compilation of what was already dispersed and an opportunity to make advanced legislation that consolidates this labor modality has been lost .

It is done in a hurry, with little debate, as if teleworking were only going to be used in the pandemic, which, by the way, is even cited in the preamble of the Decree Law, which is at least unusual for a law that is supposed to last for years.

In addition, this Decree Law is used to regulate the neglect of the minimum vital income legislation that has nothing to do with teleworking.

You cannot create a legislative corpus in the shape of Frankenstein, uniting pieces of very diverse origins that are in no way related to the object of the norm.

In the background, the voluntary nature of teleworking (something very relative), the formal aspects and the contract agreement are regulated, which was already de facto being applied for years.

The regulated rights were already almost in their entirety also in force by various previous norms.

Even everything related to the inspection by the company of the teleworker activity and everything related to privacy and data protection, follows what has been applied up to now in both legislation and jurisprudence.

Something new, almost the only thing, is the right to disconnect, that if we know telework we see that it is something unusual and sometimes useless, it is like putting doors to the field.

Although it is good that it is regulated, even if it does not have much application, it can ultimately resolve some conflicts and help the judges make decisions on specific cases.

The collective bargaining of workers is complex and is dealt with in an article and the first provision, without providing any new possibility, despite the fact that on numerous occasions experts have indicated the need to detail the legislation in this field of collective bargaining.

In short, we are still waiting, a legislative compilation has been made, incorporating aspects dealt with in 13 previous regulations and the opportunity to give a more specific regulation that is not only the legislation of general aspects has been lost.

Our only hope is that, as Count Romanones said, "you make the laws and I will make the regulations."

Well, here it is necessary to regulate, even if it is by regulation.

Francisco José Martínez López is Professor of Economics at the University of Huelva

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