On May 28, Presidential Decree No. 345/2021 (the “Decree”) was published in the Official Gazette extending until June 30, 2021 the prohibition against dismissals without just cause and the prohibition against ordering dismissals and suspensions on grounds of insufficient or decreased workloads or force majeure.
These prohibitions had originally been ordered on March 31, 2020, under Presidential Decree No. 329, and were extended under Presidential Decrees 487/20, 624/20, 761/20, 891/20, 39/21, and 266/21.
The Decree establishes that these prohibitions will not apply to construction industry personnel governed by Law No. 22,250 or to employment relations initiated after December 13, 2019. Suspensions agreed to under the terms of section 223 bis of the Labor Contract Law (between the employer and the employee, or between the employer and relevant union), will be exempted from the prohibition set forth in the Decree.
Dismissals and suspensions that conflict with the provisions of the Decree are null and void; thus, they have no legal effect and the existing employment relations and their current conditions remain in force.
Likewise, the Decree extends, until June 30, 2021, the presumption that COVID-19 infection is an unlisted occupational disease with respect to dependent employees who have rendered their service at their usual place of work, outside their place of residence.