Monique Vieira Lessa
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
On May 12, 2021, Law No. 14,151/21 came into force, guaranteeing pregnant employees time off from their on-site activities during the pandemic, without prejudice to their pay.
Under the terms of the law, all pregnant employees must remain working from home until the end of the state of public health emergency.
The law is intended to protect both the worker and the baby from exposure to COVID-19 in face-to-face work, without harming their livelihood.
This determination must be observed immediately by all employers, including domestic workers, regardless of the actual possibility of performing services remotely, since the law does not make any exceptions.
For cases in which the role performed by the pregnant woman is not compatible with home office work, as a guideline, the Labor Prosecutor’s Office issued a Technical Note on January 14, 2021, which deals with the issue, where it considered the adoption of a contingency plan by the employer to be valid, with the possibility of temporarily transferring pregnant employees to sectors where it is possible to perform activities at home.
In this note, it also mentioned alternative measures that can be adopted in the event of the impossibility of implementing the home office and/or temporary transfer, such as suspension of the employment contract, bank of hours and granting of vacations. However, these measures must be analyzed with caution in order to correctly assess the benefits and risks in the short and long term, both for the employer and the employee.
In any case, it is important that companies are aware of legislative changes, as well as supported by a legal team to handle cases correctly in order to mitigate labor risks.
